Holiday Happenings
by murrey-2012
Summary: A series of holiday one-shots
1. Thanksgiving Mishaps

**Okay everyone. This is just a one-shot about Chloe and Derek's Thanksgiving together. Hope you like it. Feedback is good. I'm a little disappointed in this one. It wasn't like I planned it out to be. Just a little info – Derek and Simon are 20, and Chloe and Tori are 19.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

This is the day I had been looking forward to for months. The day when we could all get together and just be…well, together. It was hard getting everyone in the same room now. Simon is in Chicago working for a local artist in hopes that he will get one of his comics on the market. Tori is in Miami, working at a computer programming company. Derek and I stayed in New York. I'm working for a local director, picking up tips on how to get into the business once I finish college. Derek is working at a researching lab as an intern while he finishes getting him doctorate in genetics. Every year, everyone gets together at Kit's and have Thanksgiving together. But not this year. This year Tori is swamped with work and can't make it. Simon is spending the day with his girlfriend's family. And Kit, like Tori, can't get out of work. So now it's just me and Derek, not that it's a bad thing, but now I'm stuck with all the cooking. I learned early on the cooking is not my specialty, but I'm determined to make this work.

Derek had to go to work for a few hours, so now it's just me alone in the kitchen. Looking around, I took a deep breath as I looked at everything around me. Food was scattered everywhere waiting to be prepared. The turkey was in the oven, so now I had all the little things to make – the stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, etc. I, like pretty much everybody, don't see the appeal of cranberries, but Derek actually likes them, so…why not. First, though, I needed to make the dinner rolls so that they would be done when it came time to eat. First I added the dry goods – yeast, salt, sugar. I left the flour for last. Opening the cupboard, I looked up at the top shelf. There on the top shelf, the flour sat mocking me for my shortness. Looking around for something to stand on, I came up short. Sighing, I looked back up. Grabbing the bottom shelf, I lifted myself up onto the counter. Standing up, I grabbed the flour. As I reached to fix the lid, which wasn't on all the way, a voice behind me said, "What are you doing?"

Yelping, I turned towards the voice. As I turned, my foot slipped and I started to fall, the flour flying from my hand. Before I hit the floor, strong arms closed around me, catching me. At the same time, the flour came back down and exploded over me and my savior. Looking up, I started babbling apologies. Above me stood Derek, completely covered in the white flour. He opened his eyes. Looking down at me, he raised his eyebrows in a familiar look which said, "Really?"

"I am so sorry," I said, wiping some of the flour off his face.

"What were you doing?" he asked, ignoring my apology – his way of forgiving me.

"Getting the flour," I said, meekly.

He shook his head, sending flour all over me. "I think you're gonna need more."

Looking around, I started laughing. "Maybe."

Instead of setting me down, he carried me up the stairs to our room. Setting me down on the bed, he removed his flour-filled shirt and shook out the rest of the flour from his hair. Turning around, he walked up to me and reached out his hand, expectant. Grabbing the bottom of my shirt, I hoisted it over my head and handed it to him. He tossed the shirts in the hamper and went to the closet, grabbing two new shirts. Handing me one, he pulled the second over his head. Once I had mine on, he asked, "Do you want help cooking?"

"No," I responded, "I want to do this on my own."

Nodding, he reached out his hand and pulled me to my feet. "I'll be in the office, working."

"Okay," I said.

At the bottom of the stairs, we went our separate ways. When I got into the kitchen, I looked at my flour mess. Walking over to the flour container, I looked in. There was enough. Looking at the flour, I decided to wait until the end, so I could clean everything at once. I finished the bread and put in the oven so it would rise faster.

Continuing on, I make the rest of the food, letting it cook. Looking down at the flour, I decided to start cleanup. I went to the closet and when I grabbed for the broom, the phone rang. Forgetting cleanup, I went to answer it. It was the director I was working for. He wanted to discuss the latest movie that we were working on. Going upstairs, I grabbed the script and sat down on the bed. After a while talking to the director, I lost track of time. When he finally stopped talking, I looked at the clock – 6:45. Gasping, I ran out of the bedroom, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Coughing from the smoke, I ran to the stove and shut of the burners and the oven. Opening the oven door, smoke billowed out, surrounding me. I lifted the lids of the food on the stove, only to be met by burnt sludge. Groaning, I stepped back and covered my face in my hands.

From behind, strong arms encircled me. Resting his chin on my shoulder, he said softly into my ear, "I have an idea."

Half an hour later, I was curled up in Derek's arms on the couch. On the coffee table in front of us lay the empty Chinese food cartons. On the TV was A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Sighing, I leaned back and nestled farther into Derek's arms.

"Well," he said, "What did you think of our first Thanksgiving alone?"

Smiling, I turned my face up to him and said, "Can we do it again next year?"


	2. Christmas Wishes

**Hello everyone. I decided to try and write a Christmas one-shot. I have an idea in my head and I'm going to try and write it doubt so that it's decent enough. Please review. Chloe and Tori are 19 and Derek and Simon are 20. This is Chloe's pov.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

**Also, Merry Christmas!**

_ Oh, how I hate this, let me count the ways._ Standing in the middle of the mall, I looked around. There were people everywhere. It was a surprise I could even move. Every space was covered with Christmas decorations: from wreaths to trees to mistletoe. I was making sure to steer clear of the mistletoe. Under them were couples making out. Though I'm not sure if I would call it making out. there are certain things that should stay in the bedroom.

Anyway, it is December 20th and I have yet to get Derek anything for Christmas. It's not like I was procrastinating or anything. I just have no idea what to get him. he is the definition of hard to buy for. I tried giving little hints for him to tell me what he wants, but he doesn't seem to get them. I had spent the last hour walking aimlessly around the mall going from store to store. Sighing, I started toward the exit. I'll try one last time to ask Derek what he wants then I'll come back tomorrow. Maybe I'll have a clue of what to get him then.

Walking into the parking lot, I was instantly hit with a blast of cold air. Wrapping my coat tighter around me, I proceeded to my car. When I got in, my phone went off. Looking at the caller id, I read Kit's name and smiled. _maybe he might know what I can get Derek_. I flipped the phone open.

"Hi, Kit," I said.

"Hello," he said, "I'm just making sure that you two are coming to dinner on the 24th."

"Yes we are. I even made Derek take the day off a month in advance," I said, smiling.

"Good, Simon is flying in on the 23rd and Tori is coming the next morning," he said.

"before you go, can I a question?" I asked.

"You want to know what to get Derek for Christmas?" he asked. I could hear the smile in his voice.

"How did you guess?" I asked.

"Call it a father's intuition," he said.

"Any ideas?" I asked.

"A book?" he suggested.

"He's got an entire room full of books," I said.

"But he doesn't have every book," he said, hinting.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"When he was 15, he was looking through a book of mine which made reference to other novels, many of them supernatural in origin. There was a certain book that he wanted, but couldn't find anywhere. It was a book containing myths and legends of supernaturals," he explained.

After jotting down the title of the book and thanking him, I closed the phone and started the car. Next stop supernatural section of the bookstore. Yes, there is a section in the bookstore devoted to supernatural. There is in most bookstores, but there is a glamour spell over it and you have to be a supernatural to access it.

When I got there, I went in and said hello to the owner, a sixty year old witch. Walking back the "food" section, I crossed through the glamour and was surrounded by supernatural books. Looking for half an hour, I finally gave up looking. This just wasn't my day. Walking the door, I was almost out when the owner said, "Did you want to order something?"

Stopping in my tracks, I smiled. "Yes. Yes I would."

Turning around, I walked to the counter and waited for her to pull up a page on her computer. Once it was loaded, she asked me what the name was and she typed it into search. After waiting a minutes she said, "We have one copy left, but I'm not sure if I can get it. I can try, but I can't promise anything."

"If you could just try, I would be eternally grateful."

"Alright, if I can get it, I will call you."

"thank you," I said, turning and walking out to my car. _Great, now I need a back up plan._

Starting the car, I drove home and went inside. Throwing my purse onto the counter, I walked to bedroom and grabbed a change of clothes. Going into the bathroom, I turned on the faucet of the tub and waited for the water to heat up. When it had done so, I put in the stopper and added the bubble bath. When the tub was full, I shut off the water and stripped. Getting into the tub, I sighed and leaned back into the water. This was just what I needed. A nice bath to get me relaxed and forget about Christmas for a little while. Just as I was almost fully relaxed, my phone went off. Groaning, I stood up and wrapped a towel around me. walking into the bedroom, I grabbed the phone and said, "Hello?"

"You would not believe what I have to go through!" a female voice yelled. Tori.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"I got tickets for 8 o' clock in the morning on the 24th. I just got a call from the airport. They overbooked, those bastards. Now the only available flight is at 4 o' clock in the effing morning! Can you believe that?"

"Nope," I said, smiling as I listened to her continue her ranting. After a while of her complaining, I looked at the clock.

"Tori? Could you hold on a sec? I have to get dressed," I said.

"Go ahead," she said.

Setting the phone down, I walked into the bathroom and quickly put my clothes on. As I finished zipping my jeans, I heard the front door shut. _Derek's home_. Walking into the bedroom, I said goodbye to Tori and went downstairs to meet Derek. When I got down there, I walked into the kitchen and started preparing dinner. Taking out a pizza from the freezer, I preheated the oven and turned the box around to read the directions. From behind me, Derek snaked his arms around my waist and I jumped. Turning around, I hit him in the arm and said, "If you don't stop sneaking up on me, I'm going to get you a collar with a little bell on it."

Smiling, he lifted my chin and kissed me gently on the lips. Returning the smile, I softly pushed him away and said, "Just let me put the pizza in the oven."

Nodding, he backed up and gave me room. Opening the box, I took out the pizza and put in the oven. Shutting the door, I turned back to Derek and nodded towards the living room. When we got into the room, he sat down on the couch and opened his arms. Smiling I went over and cuddled into his arms. Sighing, I turned my head up and kissed him on the cheek and snuggled farther into him. kissing the top of my head he asked, "What do you want for Christmas?"

Thinking for a second, I said, "Just put a bow on your head, and I'm good."

"I'll see what I can do," he said.

On the 24th, we ate dinner at Kit's. Just as we were leaving, my phone when off. It was the witch from the bookstore. She had the book. I almost cheered out loud, but caught myself at the last second. When we got into the car, I asked Derek if we could make a quick stop. He didn't ask why, just where to. When we got there, I quickly ran in and purchased the book. When I got back to the car, he didn't ask questions, just started the car and drove home.

The next morning, I woke up and looked at Derek. Seeing him still sleeping, I smiled. Planting a small kiss on his lips, I turned to get out of bed. Just as I got the covers off, strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me to them. Smiling, I said, "Good morning."

"Morning," he murmured, his face buried in my hair.

"You awake yet?" I asked.

"That depends," he said.

"On what?" I asked.

"What am I awake for?" he asked.

Laughing, I said, "Christmas."

"Oh," he said, and jumped out of bed, grabbing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

"Wait for me!" I said, laughing at his eagerness.

I quickly dressed and walked into the hallway, where Derek grabbed me and lifted me in his arms, carrying me downstairs. When we got downstairs, he put me down. Pushing him down on the couch, I grabbed the two things I had got him. Giving him the smaller of the two first, he opened it. Taking one look at what lay in the box, he burst out laughing. Reaching inside, he brought out a little collar with a bell where the tag should be.

"I told you I would get it," I said, smiling.

Shaking his head, he said, "I don't have to wear it, do i?"

"No, but just keep in mind if you don't stop sneaking up on me, I will make you wear it," I threatened, handing him his other gift.

Unwrapping it, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. Lifting up the book, he flipped through the pages. "How did you know?"

"Call it a father's intuition," I said.

Looking up, he smiled and said, "remind me to thank him."

"Me next," I said.

Setting the book down he looked at me and said, "Do you remember what you told me when I asked you what you wanted for Christmas?"

"I told you that all you needed to do was tie and bow to your head," I said, smiling at the memory.

Reaching behind him, he pulled out a small box and I swear my heart stopped beating. "Think this will do?"

Opening the box, he revealed a small ring with three small stones. The stone on the left was an emerald and the stone on the right was a sapphire. In the middle, where they joined, what a diamond. Looking down at the ring, I looked back up at Derek and asked softly, "Can I have it?"

His smile growing, he nodded. Reaching forward, I grabbed the delicate ring and slipped it on my finger. It fit perfectly. A tear escaped my eye and I threw my arms around his neck. Laughing, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. pulling back, he looked at me a said, "Merry Christmas."

Kissing him once more, I smiled and said," Merry Christmas, Derek."

**So what do you think? Reviews are a great Christmas present, really. **


	3. Valentine's Cards

**Hello everybody. I was going to do a valentine's one-shot like my other ones, where Derek and Chloe are older. But I changed my mind. In this one, the four of them are in the first grade (I know Derek and Simon are a grade ahead, but this makes it easier.) Sorry it's late. AU/AH **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

"Okay everyone," Ms. Winters said, "remember that tomorrow is Valentine's Day. You can bring your cards and treats and pass them out to all your friends."

"Yay!" the class cheered.

"As a class treat, everybody can grab their things and wait on the playground for their buses."

The entire class erupted in cheers as everyone stuffed papers into their bags and ran out the door, flooding the halls before they finally made it outside. Taking my time,I packed my backpack and stood up. Walking over to the wall of hooks, I grabbed my coat. Pulling my arm through the sleeve, I pushed out my hat and mittens, which I had put there for safe-keeping. Zipping my jacket and putting on my hat and mittens, I walked back to my desk and picked up my backpack. As I walked to the door, I looked back into the room and looked at all the Valentine's decorations. The walls were covered in red hearts, pink paper chains hung from the ceiling. Sighing, I turned back to the now empty hall and walked out, making my way outside with the others.

Walking outside, I looked for my friends. Seeing Liz and Rae on the swings, I hurried over and grabbed the empty one before somebody else got there. Sitting down, I listened to my friends' conversation.

"I can't wait until tomorrow!" Liz said excitedly.

"Yeah, me too," Rae said.

"Maybe Brady will get you a valentine," Liz said.

"Maybe," Rae said, trying to hide her smile.

"How about you, Chloe?" Rae asked.

"What about me?" I asked.

"Who are you hoping to get a valentine from?" Rae asked.

"I don't know," I said, looking at my lap. "I guess I don't really care if anybody gets me one."

"Well, I want a lot," Liz yelled, pumping her swing until she was almost over the top.

As Liz and Rae continued their conversation, I blocked them out. I really didn't care if anybody got me a valentine. I really didn't like Valentine's Day this year. Every Valentine's Day, me and my mother would bake heart-shaped cookies and make Valentine's cards for everybody. But not this year. This year I didn't have anybody to bake cookies with. My mother had died in the beginning of January. This being the middle of February, I still have trouble with it. I probably could have asked my dad to make cookies with me, but since my mother died, he had been going away more. My aunt would have done it, but it wouldn't have been the same. It would never be the same.

I would have made a Valentine's card for everybody like I did last year, but I didn't want any reminders. Though I didn't especially want any cards from the class, I knew I would get some. Probably from the whole class. But it wouldn't be because I was there friend. It would be because they felt sorry for me. Ever since the class found out, they had treated me differently. They didn't treat me bad. They acted like I was fragile and they expected me to break at any moment. I was sick of it. I didn't like being treated like that.

Looking around the playground, I watched the class building snowmen while there was still snow and then knocking them down. Other kids were throwing snowballs. Looking at one of the forts, I watched Simon ducked a snowball that his sister, Tori, threw at him. Gathering up more snow, he chucked a ball back at her, hitting her square in the face. I laughed to myself as Tori ran at Simon, who fled and was running away. As they ran passed the far wall, they passed their brother Derek. Seeing him, my smile fell. He was sitting against the wall, his legs crossed underneath him as he looked down at the book he was reading. Every day, he was always in the same spot, reading a book instead of playing with any of the other kids, even Simon.

"Chloe?"

Looking over at Rae and Liz, I said, "What?"

"I asked you what you were looking at," Liz said.

"Oh," I said. "Just Derek."

"Why?" Rae asked, her face scrunching up is distaste.

"I was just wondering why he always sits by himself," I said.

"Because he has no friends," Rae said.

"That's not true," I said.

"Yes it is. He never plays with anyone. And nobody ever plays with him. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody gives him a card tomorrow," Rae said.

Mad that Rae had said that, I stood up and picked up my backpack. Swinging it on my shoulder, I stormed off towards Derek. When I got to him, I just stood in front of him, not knowing what to say. Noticing the shadow over his page, he looked up at me.

"Hi," I said, smiling.

"Hi," he said, unsure.

"Um… I –"

"Chloe!"

Looking over, I saw my dad standing over by our car. He waved at me to hurry.

"Bye," I said to Derek, rushing to my dad. Getting in the car, I glanced back at Derek. Seeing him watching me, I gave him a small wave and shut the door.

"Alright," Dad said, "I will pick you up after your meeting with the psychiatrist."

"Can I skip today?" I asked.

"Why?" he asked.

"I have a project," I said.

"For school?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "For school."

"Do you need any supplies?" he asked.

"No, I think I have everything," I answered.

"Alright then, you can skip today," he said.

"Thank you," I said, looking out the window.

Rushing inside, I quickly set my backpack by the door and took off my coat. Running to the dining room, I grabbed a chair and pulled it to the cabinet. Stepping up onto the chair, I still could barely reach the cabinet door, but I managed. Opening the door, I grabbed the bottom box and carefully pulled it out. Setting it on the counter, I reached up and shut the door. Picking up the box, I stepped off the chair, leaving it there until later.

Rushing to my bedroom, I immediately set the box on my bed. I quickly went back and shut my door. Running back to my bed, I pulled myself up and opened the box. Reaching inside, I pulled out red construction paper and some scissors. Cutting out a heart, I pulled out some ribbons and lace. Working for another hour on the heart, I smiled on my finished masterpiece.

"Chloe! Time for bed!" my dad called.

"Okay Dad!" I called back.

Repacking the box, I picked it up and walked back to the cabinet. After I put it back, I stepped off the chair and pulled it back to the dining room. Running back to my room, I picked up the valentine and rushed to my backpack. Gently placing it inside, I walked back to my room, changed into my pajamas, and crawled into bed, where I lay awaiting the day.

Sitting nervously in my seat, I waited for Ms. Winters to announce it time to exchange valentines. I had only made one valentine, and I was really nervous to give it. I didn't know what he would say.

"Alright, class," Ms. Winters said, "You may now give out your valentines."

As the entire class got up and started passing out their cards, I stayed in my seat. Looking towards the back row of desks, I saw Derek sitting in his desk, reading. His desk was empty of valentines. Taking a deep breath, I stood up, determined. Walking passed the other kids, I made my way to Derek's desk. When I got there, however, my determination sunk. When he looked up, I blushed and started stammering, "I…um… wanted to…um… give you…"

Taking a deep breath, I set the valentine on his desk and rushed back to mine before he could say anything. Sitting in my seat, I didn't dare to look back at Derek.

"Okay, everyone," Ms. Winters said, "Let's go outside for the rest of the day."

As everyone grabbed their valentines and ran outside, I shoved mine into my bag and rushed outside before Derek could talk to me. When I got outside, I went to the corner of the playground and I sat down. Burying my head in my arms, I hoped Derek wouldn't find me.

After sitting me a while, I heard footsteps coming towards me. Not moving, I waited for them to get closer. They stopped next to me. The owner of the footsteps waited for a second and then sat down next to me. Peeking out of the corner of my eye, I saw Derek looking down at his hands. Sensing me watching, he looked over at me.

Blushing, I looked down at my shoes. I heard something crinkling. Looking up, I saw Derek holding something out for me. Reaching out, I grabbed it. Holding it in front of me, I saw that is was a valentine's card. It was a simple heart. Smiling, I looked up at him. He was looking at his hands again. Opening my mouth to talk, I heard my name called. Like yesterday, my dad was standing next to the car, waving me over.

As I stood up, so did Derek. Putting my backpack over my shoulder, I started to walk to the car. Stopping, I rushed back to Derek. Kissing him on the cheek, I said, "Thank you." And I meant it. While every other Valentine I got might have been because they felt sorry for me, I knew Derek's was different. It wasn't because he felt sorry for me. it was because he wanted to give me one.

Turning back around, I ran to the car. This time, when I waved to Derek, he gave a small wave back. Sitting in my seat, I looked out the window.

"Did you have a good Valentine's day?" Dad asked.

Smiling, I said, "Yeah. Yeah I did."

**Okay, so I have a question for everyone. What is the next holiday?**


	4. Valentine's Dilemas

**Okay everyone, I know that Valentine's Day is long over and I already wrote a one-shot for it, but on the request of Chlereklover, I will write another one. This one takes place a year after they destroy the Edison Group. They are staying at a safe house in northern New York with two other teenagers named Janelle and Matt. Chloe is 16 and Derek is 17.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

**This is in Derek's POV. **_**Derek's thoughts are in italics.**_** Sorry if he is OOC.**

The grandfather clock chimed six o' clock as I sat reading in the living room of our current house. The fire in the fireplace crackled as the logs slowly turned to ash. Of all the rooms in the house, the living room was the quietest. The sounds of the house seemed to stop when I hit the door. Mostly the sounds came from the people staying here. Dad and Lauren were usually out. Dad got a job at a small, local law agency working. Lauren got a job at the hospital working the late shift. She argued that it was the only time she could get but I knew it was so she could keep an eye on Chloe. Tori and Simon were always fighting. Dad forbid Tori from using spells on Simon after she lit his hair on fire accidentally. But he never said anything yelling and screaming at each other and giving me a headache. At least the fighting seemed to lessen since Tori started dating one of the new teenagers that we picked up. Matt was an Agito half demon who thought it was fun to move chairs out from under people. He learned fast not to do it to me, but that didn't stop him from torturing Simon and the other new teen, Janelle. Simon wasn't dating Janelle, but he was close. Janelle was a shaman, which was convenient because Simon kept getting injured from Tori. And last, but not least, Chloe. We've been dating for almost a year now. Dad was completely fine with it. In fact, I think he was the happiest about it because I finally showed an interest. Lauren, on the other hand, wasn't so thrilled. She did whatever she could to make sure Chloe and I didn't get time alone. It was worse when we were driving because we were confined to a small motel room. But now we have a house which is surrounded by forest, so we can sneak out away from her. Luckily, because her shift is at night, when I have to change, she can't stop Chloe from coming out with me.

Interrupting me from my thoughts, Simon walked in and asked, "Hey, Derek, you busy?"

Looking up from my book, I answered, "Not really. Why?"

"I need help," he said, sitting down in the chair opposite me.

"What kind of help?" I asked, looking back down at my book.

"Girl help," he said.

Looking up at him unbelievably, I said, "You want girl help. From _me?"_

"Well yeah," he said, leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

"Why?" I asked, still not understanding.

"You've been dating Chloe for a year now. That's way longer than I've ever had a girlfriend," he said.

"What does me dating Chloe have anything to do with it?" I asked, shutting my book and setting it on the side table.

"Well, I wanted to do something special for Janelle for tomorrow," he said.

"Why? What's tomorrow?" I asked.

Now it was his turn to look at me unbelievably. "Are you serious?"

"What?" I asked, defensively.

"Valentine's Day?" he said.

"What about it?" I asked.

"Seriously? Aren't you doing something special for Chloe?" he asked.

"Why would I?" I asked.

"Because that's what you're supposed to do on Valentine's Day," he said.

"What makes Valentine's Day different from any other day?" I asked.

"I don't know, it just is," he said, "Are you telling me that you have nothing planned for tomorrow?"

"Why would I? Chloe won't care," I said.

"You say that now, but just wait. When you don't do anything for Chloe tomorrow, she'll be disappointed. She might not say anything, but she will be." Standing up, he walked around the couch and out of the room. Watching him leave, I shook my head. _She won't be disappointed. Will she? _Thinking about it further, my next thought was, _oh shit. _I needed to do something for her. I just had no idea what. _What do girls want? What does Chloe want? _Drawing a blank, I decided to try and find out, without her figuring out what I was doing.

Getting up, I followed my nose to the kitchen, where I found Chloe making something. The counters were littered with measuring cups, bowls, and spilt flour. I had trouble holding a laugh as I watched her. Like the counters, her shirt was covered in flour and other ingredients. With her back to me, she didn't see me, so I leaned against the door frame and continued watching her, forgetting what I came for. I watched as she mixed something in a bowl, then lifted the bowl upside down and let the ball of dough fall onto the counter. Reaching over, she grabbed the rolling pin and started flattening the dough. When she had it flat, she turned around. Seeing me, she yelped and jumped back, hitting the counter.

"Do you have to do that?" she asked, crossing he arms.

"I can't stand?" I asked, hiding a smile.

"Not standing, sneaking," she said.

"I don't sneak," I said.

"You're supposed to make noise when you walk. You can whistle… or yodel," she said.

"Yodel?" I questioned, this time not hiding my smile.

When I smiled, her breathing hitched a little bit and her face reddened. Turning around, she faced the counter, hiding her blush. My smile grew as I walked up behind her and put my arms around her waist, leaning my chin on the shoulder. Sighing, she leaned back into me, hands going over mine. Lifting my mouth to her ear, I asked, "What are you making?"

Smiling, she said, "You'll have to wait and see."

"You won't tell me?" I asked.

"Nope," she said.

Lowering me voice, I said, "Not even if I ask …nicely?"

"Hmm," she said, looking up at me, "It's tempting…but you still have to wait."

"I could make it worth your while," I said, looking down at her lips, which turned up more as her smile grew.

"Well, as much as I want to accept your offer, I think I'm going to pass," she said, her eyes full of mischief.

"Why?" I asked.

"When you don't get what you want, you pout," she answered.

"I pout?" I asked, amused.

"Uh huh," she said, "It's cute."

"I'm cute?" I asked, my eyebrows rising.

"Your pouting is cute. You on the other hand… I don't think cute is the right word," she said.

Grinning broadly, I leaned down as she tilted her face up. I could feel her breath on my lip. Just as they our lips were about to touch, somebody cleared their throat. I took a deep breath to calm myself. I knew exactly who was behind us. Looking at Chloe, I kept my face blank. She gave me an apologetic look and a small smile as I let go of her waist and turned around. Standing by the door was Lauren, whose arms were crossed and her face full of disgust as she looked at me. Throwing her my worst glare, I walked around her into the hall. Still not knowing what to do for Chloe, I went upstairs in search of somebody who could help me.

Stopping outside a bedroom door, I lifted my hands and rapped my knuckles against the wood. From the other side, I could her Tori get off her bed and walk to the door. When she opened it, she asked, "What do you want?"

"I need help," I said, shoving my hands in pocket.

"With what?" she asked.

"Chloe," I said.

"What did you do? Hump her leg?" she said, smirking.

Scowling, I turned around and started for the stairs. I heard her sigh before she called out, "What do you need help with?"

Turning to face her, I said, "I need help coming up with something for Chloe for tomorrow."

"That's all?" she said, "That should be easy."

"To you maybe," I mumbled.

"What does Chloe like?" she asked.

Thinking for a minute, I said, "The only thing I know she likes is movies. But it's not like I can take her to a movie. That's too far to walk."

"That's all you know that she likes?" she asked, unbelievably.

I glared at her.

Walking past me to the stairs she said, "I can think if another thing she likes."

Confused, I asked, "What?"

Stopping at the top of the stairs, she turned and said, "She likes you, moron."

Staring after her, I thought, _what can I do with that?_

Looking at my watch, I saw it was 7:30. I decided to go for a run, hoping that would give me some thoughts.

It being February, there was still some chill to the air. Having a fur coat, however, helps. Through it was a little cold, for February, it was unusually warm. Because of the strange weather, the snow had a mind of its own and decided to melt completely, so I was left running through the leftover frozen mud. Hearing the running water, I changed direction towards it, deciding it was time for a drink. I pushed through a wall of thick, dead vines and stopped. When I saw what was on the other side, I knew exactly what I was going to do for Chloe.

I woke up the next morning to a weight on my chest. Cracking open one eye, I smiled when I saw what was causing the weight. Looking over at the clock, I read 6:30. Groaning, I looked back at the smiling blond sitting cross-legged on my chest. "What are you doing up at 6:30?"

"Tori kicked me out of the room," she said. Of all the people in the house, only Tori and Chloe shared a room because we were one room short.

"Why did she kick you out?" I asked.

"She was getting ready for a date with Matt," she said.

"At 6:30 in the morning?" I asked.

"Apparently," she said.

"So you decided to come into my room and sit on my chest and wake me up?" I asked.

"You didn't have to wake up," she said, smiling.

Snorting, I lifted my hands and ran them through my hair. After a year of changes, my hair was no longer greasy and my face had cleared up completely. Stretching my arms over my head, the joints in my back cracked. Looking at Chloe, she grimaced and said, "That can't be natural."

"For somebody who changes into a wolf weekly, I think that's the most natural," I said.

Giving me a small smile, she slid off my chest and onto the bed, allowing me to sit up. Flipping of the blankets, I got up and grabbed my jeans. Pulling them on, I turned around and faced Chloe, whose face was beet red. Looking at what she was looking at, I smiled. Even after a year of seeing me in my boxers, she still blushed when she saw my chest. Being a werewolf, I needed to work out to burn off energy. Working out left me with a six-pack. Grabbing a shirt, I pulled it on and walked to the bed, holding my hand out to Chloe to help her up. Instead, she grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled my face down to hers. Lifting her lips to mine, wrapped her arms around my neck. Grabbing onto her waist, I pulled her closer. After a minute, she pulled back.

"What was that for?" I asked, a little out of breath.

Smiling, she said, "That was your good morning kiss. If you're good, you might get a good night kiss too. "

Smiling, I lifted her off the bed onto the floor. Walking to the door, I held it open for her. She walked past me and smiled. I followed her to the kitchen, where she walked to the fridge and pulled out eggs. Giving her a confused look, she said, "I'm making you breakfast."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, it's valentine's day. It's my present to you," she said, giving me a small smile.

"My present is food?" I asked. Smiling, I walked up to her and kissed her. "I love you."

Her smile grew. Pushing me to the table, she said, "Sit."

Doing what she says, I sat down and watched her cook. I have to admit, as clumsy as she is and as bad as she is at everything, she is an excellent cook. And loving food as much as I do, I must be the luckiest guy alive.

After a bit, she walked over and set two plates down. Sitting down, she said, "Now you can eat."

Not needing her to tell me twice, I dug in. she laughed at my eagerness. When we were done, she grabbed our plates and put them in the sink. Turning around, she leaned back against the counter.

"What do you want to do now?" she asked.

Looking at the clock, I read 9:45. Looking back at her, I said, "Want to watch TV?"

"Okay," she said.

Getting up, I started walking to the living room with Chloe close behind me. When we got there, however, I turned right back around and started toward the second living room on the other side of the house. Chloe gave me a confused look, but when she looked in the room to see why I turned around, she let out a small laugh and followed me. Sitting on the couch was Simon and Janelle with their lips practically glued together.

Walking to the other living room, we luckily found in empty. Sitting down on the couch, I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. Chloe sat down next to me and leaned up against me. Putting my arm around her, we sat and watched sappy Valentine's specials.

At 8:00, Tori was on her date with Matt and Simon and Janelle were up in his room. Dad was at work, like usual. He had given Tori and Matt the ride to the movies. Lauren was at work, which was good because my plan wouldn't have worked if she was home.

Me and Chloe were currently in the woods. She was sitting on my jacket as I finished changing. Once I was done, I shook and got up. Walking over to her, she reached out to touch me, but I jerked back at the last second. Jumping back, I lifted my ears and stepped back again. She laughed, getting up.

"Okay," she said. "I get the hint."

Running at me, I pivoted left out of her reach. When I pivoted right, she followed, almost touching me. This went on for a while before I ran out of sight, leaving her standing there confused. Sticking my head out of the brush, I motioned for her to follow. Smiling, she followed me into the brush. She kept getting lost, but I led her in the right direction. When I got to the wall of vines, I walked through and waited.

"Derek?" she called. I could hear her stumbling around. When she got to the vines, she stopped. Quietly, she said, "Derek?"

As she pushed the vines apart, I waited for the gasp. A second later, I heard it. Running around behind a rock, I changed back and pulled on the clothes I had put there last night after my run. Walking back to her, I smiled when I saw her face. Her hands were held to her face and a tear ran down her face. Turning to me, she took her hands down and smiled.

"Derek…it's beautiful," she said, running to me and throwing her arms around my neck.

In front of us was a clearing with the river running down the middle of it. The moonlight shone through the top of the trees and reflected off the river, making the river seem like it was filled with light bulbs instead of water.

"I found it last night on my run," I said softly, my face buried in the crook of her neck. "I thought this was better than anything I could do. Happy Valentine's day."

Looking up at me, she lifted onto her toes and kissed me. Leaning down slightly, I put my arms beneath her knees and picked her up. Laughing, she put her arms back around my neck as I walked her over to a dry patch. Sitting down, I set her on my lap. She leaned back against my chest. I wrapped my arm around her, holding her close to me. Just as I was getting comfortable, she jumped and said, "Oh!"

Looking at her confused, she said, "I almost forgot."

Reaching into her pocket, she brought out a napkin. Looking up at me, she said, "You were wondering what I was making yesterday."

She unfolded the napkin to reveal a heart shaped cookie. Breaking it into two pieces, she handed me the bigger piece. Smiling down at her, I took the cookie. Leaning back against me, she said, "Happy Valentine's Day, Derek."

**So what do you think? This is the longest fanfic I've ever written. Anyway, I know a lot of you want me to write a St. Patrick's Day one, but I don't really know that much about it besides if you don't wear green people pinch you. Sorry, I'm only a little bit Irish. But if you guys can tell me more, I can try. Also, I might write one for Chloe's birthday because her birthday is in March. I figured that out on my own because Derek and Simon were put into Lyle House in January according to Kelley Armstrong's Dangerous. And in the book, it said that they were in there for three months, which is April. So the book takes place in April, but she turned 15 the month before, which is March. Also, Derek's birthday is either in January, February, March, or April because he turned 16 when he was in Lyle House. **


	5. One Too Many

**Okay everybody, I know that I am a horrible person for making you wait so long. But I had a little writers block with this one. I don't know much about St. Patrick's Day, but from some of the stuff that you guys told me, I may be able to make this work.**

**In this one, Chloe is 20 and Derek is 21. They go to the same college but they aren't friends exactly. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

I felt a breeze blow across my face and I snuggled farther into my blankets, burying my face into the pillow and sighing. The blankets were warm and inviting, wrapping around me as I brought my knees to my chest. I pressed my face into the pillow and inhaled. The rich smell of cinnamon filled my nostrils. I quietly moaned at the pleasant smell and smiled. After another minute drifting in and out of consciousness, the thought hit me. My pillows smelled like vanilla and the window is on the other side of my room. My eyes shot open and I bolted up. I instantly regretted it. The bright light from the window scorched my eyes and my head began to throb. I groaned, cradling my head in my hands. I peaked an eye open, but it only made my headache worse. Turning slowly as to not set off another headache, I faced the wall, my back to the window. _What happened? _

I looked down at the blankets which covered me. It was not the rich blue comforter which covered my bed. They were a deep green. I reached my hand down and ran my fingers over the fabric. They were softer than mine too. When I moved my hand farther, the blanket fell from where it rested against my chest and I looked down. My eyes widened when I saw that I was only wearing my bra and panties. I quickly grabbed the blanket and held it too me. I tried looking around the room more, but the sunlight was too bright.

Slowly sliding to the edge of the bed, I pulled the blanket around me and gingerly stuck a leg off the bed. The floors were made from wood, so when my foot touched it, it sent a chill through me. Shivering, I pulled the blanket tighter around me and shuffled slowly to the window. Before shutting it, I looked at the ground outside. From the distance to the ground, I guessed I was on the second floor. The ground was covered in snow, packed down by feet. I heard a shout and looked to the left. There were two boys. There were chucking snowballs at each other. I smiled when I saw one get hit point blank in the face and he ran after the first. My smiled quickly faded. _Boys?_ The school might be coed, but the dorms weren't. If there were boys outside the room, it meant I was in a boy's room.

I quickly shut the window and drew the shades in case somebody looked up at the window. Turning around, I looked at the room. To my left was a desk piled high with books. I walked over and leaned down to read the titles. There were a few math books, like statistics and trigonometry. There were other books too, but they were too advanced for me. I tried to find something on the desk to tell me whose room I was in, but I had no luck. I looked over to the closet. Walking over, I turned the knob and looked inside. All the clothes looked like normal guy stuff. Nothing that would stick out. I shut the door and looked at the room again. It was just a normal guy's room. _But what am I doing here?_ I walked over to the bed and sat down. _What did I do last night?_ I thought back to yesterday.

* * *

Lying in bed enjoying the last minutes of sleep, I heard a pounding on my door. I groaned and lifted my hands to my face to brush away the hair. I looked over at the clock and gasped. It was 8:45 and I had class in 15 minutes. Rushing out of bed, I got tangled in my sheets and fell to the floor struggling. After a minute, I finally got free and managed to stand up without tripping.

"Chloe!" A voice yelled and pounded on the door again.

"Hold on!" I yelled back, trying to brush my hair while going through my closet. I grabbed a simple t-shirt and jeans. Quickly pulling them on, I went in front of my mirror. I grabbed a hair tie and pulled my hair back into a pony. I didn't have time to do anything else, not that I ever did anything with my hair. Or my clothes for that matter. Rae always complained that I needed to wear something to attract more guys. Before yesterday, though, I had a boyfriend. His name was Peter. We'd been dating for two months. We'd had a date tonight. He was going to take me to a St. Patrick's Day party one of his friends was having. I didn't really understand St. Patrick's Day, but he insisted on going. I thought he was a really nice guy until I talked to one of his friends about the party. He accidently told me that Peter was taking me to the party so that he could get me drunk so that I would finally sleep with him. When I made it clear to his friend that I wasn't going to, he told Peter, who ended out relationship yesterday afternoon during our introduction to literature class.

More pounding on my door brought me back to reality and I quickly grabbed my bag and walked over to the door. I opened it and was met with Liz trying to hurry me to class. Lifting the strap of my bag over my head, I rested it on my shoulder and followed Liz.

"Did you study for the math test?" she asked, sounding worried.

"A little bit," I said. I planned on studying last night, but because of what happened that afternoon, I wasn't in the mood. I wasn't going to tell Liz, though, because I didn't want any more pity from my friends. It's not that I don't appreciate that they are concerned for me and are willing to hate Peter for all of eternity, or in Rae's case, set him on fire, but I don't like being pitied. I never have. And yet everywhere I go, I seem to get pitied somehow.

"I'm going to fail," she said, her breathing quickening.

"Hey," I said. "Breathe. You're going to do fine."

"But I don't understand it," she said.

"You understand it better than I do," I said. "If it makes you feel better, just remember that no matter how bad you do, you're going to do better than me."

She smiled and laughed. "Maybe we should finally admit that we need help."

"Admitting is always the first step in recovery," I said.

"Yeah," she said. "Recovery from this test."

Laughing, I followed her into the class just as the clock hit 9:00.

* * *

After lunch, I had one more class before my day was over. Introduction to Literature. I had been dreading it all day. It was the class I had with Peter. Luckily, I wasn't alone. Sitting in my seat, I was listening to Rae talk about the party tonight.

"So Brady finally asked me, but I told him I would meet him there," she said. "I figured that we could get ready at your place and walk over together."

"I'm not sure if I want to go," I said.

"Because of Peter?" she said. "Forget him. He's an ass. Besides, the party in going to be filled with a bunch of single guys. I bet any one of them would be on his hands and knees to get you to dance with him."

"Why do I not believe you?" I said, smiling.

"Cause you have issues," she said.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," she said, scanning the room.

"Are you looking for someone?" I asked.

"A guy," she said.

"What guy?" I asked.

"Somebody for you to go to the party with," she said.

"Rae," I protested.

"Don't worry, I won't pick a bad one," she said.

"I don't want a guy," I said. "My last relationship just ended."

"Exactly why you need a guy to forget about Peter with," she said.

"Rae I do –"

"How about him?" she asked, pointing to somebody behind me.

When I turned to look, I almost stopped breathing. She was pointing at Derek Souza. The drop-dead gorgeous guy I'd been drooling over since I met him in my economics class my freshman year. That was two years ago, but I've never said more than ten words to him since. Rae and Liz are always making fun of me for liking him, but I can't help it. It's not like it's his fault for the way his thick black hair falls just over his emerald green eyes. Or how his biceps press against the sleeves of his t-shirt, making them seem bigger. Or how the front of his shirt fits perfectly to show the muscles underneath.

Turning back to Rae, I glared at her. She knew how much I liked him and how much of a coward I was around him.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"No," I said.

"Why not?" she asked.

As I opened my mouth to talk, she quickly cut me off. "He's coming over here."

Looking pointedly at the front of the room, I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He was making his way over. My heart began to race and I had to work to keep my breathing normal. I had a harder time when he sat down in the desk next to me. I could see Rae smirking at me, silently laughing at my cowardice. Ignoring her, I focused on the teacher.

After a while, my attention began to wonder. Looking a few rows down, my heart sank. Peter was sitting next to girl, whispering in her hear. Whatever he said made her laugh. It's not that I really liked him that much, but it hurt that he replaced me so quickly. In my deep thoughts, I missed someone saying me name. Beside me, Rae elbowed me and I dumbly said, "Huh?"

The entire class was looking at me. It was obvious that the teacher had asked me a question, but I had no idea what it was. Staring dumbly at the teacher I didn't know what to say. From beside me, I heard somebody mumble sonnet. I repeated it to the teacher and he nodded, continuing his lecture. Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked over at whoever had said it and remembered who was sitting next to me. Instead of thanking him, I turned back to the front. I was sure that my face was the shade of a very ripe tomato, but I wouldn't look at him.

When class ended, I rushed out of the room with Rae at my heels. We walked in silence until we got to my hallway.

"He likes you," she said, out of nowhere.

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Derek," she said.

"Of course not," I said.

"You can deny it all you want, but he does," she said, stopping in front of my door.

"Just because I happen to like him doesn't mean he likes me back. I probably never even cross his mind," I said, unlocking my door.

"Whatever you say," she said, walking past me into my room.

I walked in after her and shut the door. Setting my bag down by my desk, I was about to sit down when someone knocked on my door. I walked back over to the door and opened it to reveal Liz for the second time that day. This time, however, she was coming in. as I shut the door; Liz sat next to Rae on the bed. Even though there was room, I took a seat in my desk chair.

"We have three hours until the party," Rae said. "We need to figure out what Chloe is going to wear."

"What?" I asked.

"Why?" Liz asked.

Ignoring me, Rae said, "We have to get every guy at that party lining up to dance with her."

"Because?" Liz said.

"Peter's an ass," Rae said, as if it was common sense.

"Ok," Liz said, accepting the reason.

"Don't I have a say in this?" I asked.

"No," they said together.

They got up and started working. Rae went to the closet and started going through my clothes while Liz started on my hair. Seeing as I had no choice, I just sat and waited.

* * *

When 7 o' clock came, we were standing in a group of people waiting to get in the party. According to the people in front of us, the people having the party had a list of people who could get in. I have no idea how that worked out, but apparently it did. I'd seen more than a dozen people turned away already. I tried to get Rae and Liz to turn around, but they wouldn't budge. I knew I wouldn't be on the list because I didn't really know that many people and even though it was one of Peter's friends, I wasn't sure which one it was. Half of his friends hated me for some reason. Some of his friends I had only met once. I wouldn't be surprised if Rae and Liz were on the list. They knew everybody.

When we go the head of the line, a guy was standing there holding the list. Rae and Liz went up and said their names. The guy checked the list and let them through. When I said my name, he looked and it didn't seem like was seeing it. My heart sank. Out of nowhere, a hand came out and pointed to something on the list. Looking up, I saw a blond guy standing next to the list guy. List guy nodded and let me pass. The blond guy smiled at me as I passed. I couldn't help smiling back.

When I got in, I found Rae and Liz standing by the drinks. They each were holding a cup. Walking over, I looked into them and scrunched up my nose. Beer. Being only 20, I had never had more than a sip of beer. My dad was a firm believer in waiting until I was 21 to start drinking. I took his philosophy to heart.

"I'm going to find Brady," Rae said.

"See ya," Liz and I said.

We spent the next half hour talking to each other and laughing. Eventually someone came over and asked her to dance, leaving me by myself. I found a chair and sat down; knowing nobody was going to ask me anyway. Instead, I watched all the couples dancing. Many of them were already drunk and stumbling. Part of me wondered what made this a St. Patrick's Day party. The only difference between this party and every other was the date and an unusual amount of green.

An hour passed and I was still watching everybody. I'd had a few offers to dance, but they were mostly from drunk men. Occasionally Rae or Liz would wander over and talk for awhile before being whisked away by another partner. I was starting to get bored, but I wasn't going to tell Rae or Liz. I didn't want to ruin their fun. I looked over to the corner of the room. Sitting in the corner was Peter and the girl from class. She had short, black hair and an even shorter mini skirt, which Peter's hand was under. As I watched them, I wondered how they didn't choke on each other's tongue. Suddenly feeling worse, my eyes drifted over to the drink table. My eyes settled on a cup. Taking a deep breath, I walked over. I picked up the cup and looked into it. _If everybody else can have fun, then so can I. _I lifted the cup to my lips and emptied its contents into my mouth, swallowing. Grimacing at the flavor, I set the cup down. Not being used to alcohol, it hit me harder than I expected. The room started spinning and I grabbed the table for support. _This is fun? _Looking around, everything looked the same. I looked back over at Peter and my anger flared. I grabbed another cup and downed that one too.

After a while, the spinning wasn't the only side effect. Sounds started to blur and my stomach lurched. Groaning, I tried to get over to the wall, but the swaying was too much and I started to fall forward. I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist and I leaned back into somebody's chest, blacking out.

* * *

That was the last thing I remembered. But that didn't explain why I was in some guy's room practically naked. _Oh God, what if I left with him and then we…?_ I really hoped not. For all I know, it could have been one of the drunk guys who asked me to dance. Looking around, I searched for my clothes, hoping to leave before he came back. I couldn't find them. I went back to the bed and sat down, bringing my legs underneath me. I wrapped the blanket tighter around me and let my head fall in my lap. I heard somebody on the other side of the door. Probably the guy whose room this was. I heard him put the key in the lock and turn it. My heart began to race as he turned the knob, but I kept my head down. I heard him shut the door and set something down. I heard him walk over to the bed and stop. I waited, but he didn't say anything. I lifted my head and my eyes met with the emerald eyes that had my heart racing for two years. Biting my lip, I said, simply, "Hi."

His lips twitched and he said, "Hi."

He stood up from where we kneeling and walked over to the desk. On it was two bags. He grabbed the first and walked back over to me. He held it out for me. I looked at it for a second before reaching out and grabbing it. Opening it, I looked inside to see my clothes. I looked at him questioning.

"I had them washed," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"They got wet," he said.

I looked back down at them.

"Um."

I looked back up at him. He pointed to the other bag. "There's food there. And a coffee. I figured you might need it."

"Thank you," I said, still not really comprehending what was going on.

"I've got to work," he said. "You can get dressed and eat. You can stay as long as you like. There's a spare key in the desk if you go out. The bathroom is down the hall to the right. Uh…I think that's all."

"Okay," I said.

Nodding, he walked over to the door. He stopped and turned around. "You didn't have a jacket last night. If you need to use something, just take something from my closet."

With that, he opened the door and left. I sat on the bed for a little longer before getting up and grabbing out my clothes. I quickly dressed and walked over to the desk. Opening the other bag, I reached inside and grabbed the coffee. I wrapped my hands around it and reveled in the warmth. Taking a sip, I sighed. I set it down and grabbed out a box. Inside was a cinnamon bun. I smiled. Cinnamon buns were my favorite.

Once I had finished eating, I decided to leave, not knowing what else to do. Taking Derek up on his offer, I walked over to his closet and grabbed out a jacket. It was too big, but I didn't mind. I zipped it up and pulled the collar tight around my face. Inhaling the smell, it was the same as the pillow. Cinnamon. Walking to the door, I gave one last look at the room and left.

* * *

It's been a week since waking up in Derek's bed and I've been avoiding him since. I didn't Rae or Liz about what happened because I still wasn't sure myself. I remembered bits and pieces, but I still don't know how I got to Derek's room that night. I knew I would have to talk to him eventually. I still had his jacket.

That's exactly the reason I'm standing outside his room. I'd been standing there for a good half hour, too afraid to knock. Taking a deep breath, I raised my hands and knocked on the door. I heard shuffling on the other side. A second later, the door opened. I looked up at him.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," I said back.

After another, something seemed to click, and Derek moved aside, letting me in. walking passed him, I entered. I stopped and turned around to face him. I held out his jacket.

"I brought this back," I said.

"Thanks," he said, reaching out and grabbing it. When he did, he hand grazed mine and my heart lurched. I quickly looked down, trying to hide my blush. He walked around me and set the jacket down on his desk, then turned back to face me. We stood in silence for a few minutes before my curiosity got the better of me.

"Derek?" I asked.

He lifted his head and his eyes met mine. "Huh?"

"The night of the party…how did I get to your room?" I asked.

"You passed out. You were walking from the drink table and you fell. I caught you before you hit the ground and brought you to a chair. You kept coming in and out of consciousness. You…um…you kept asking me about my muscles and how they got so big. Eventually you stayed passed out and I didn't know where your room was, so I brought you to mine."

My face being as red as it has ever been, I asked hesitantly, "So we didn't…?"

"No," he said, but I had a feeling he was holding something back.

"What?" I asked.

"Well…when I got you back to my room, you woke up again and tried to…uh…take off my shirt."

"Oh my God," I said, "I am so sorry."

"It's fine," he said. "I let you have the bed and I slept on the floor."

"Why wasn't I wearing my clothes?" I asked.

"Your friend Peter came over to talk to you and he tripped and his drink hit you. You got all wet and I didn't think you'd want to sleep in wet clothes," he explained.

"Okay," I said, nodding. I was starting to remember a little bit.

"I'm really sorry about making you go out of your way," I said.

"It's fine," he said. "I was getting bored. You were the most interesting thing at the party."

I looked up at his face. His declaration seemed genuine. I smiled and looked back down, biting my lip. "I didn't say anything else, did I? Anything embarrassing?"

"Nothing embarrassing," he said.

Something in his voice made me look up. "But I did say something."

He looked down for a second and then back up at me, taking a step closer. I met his eyes and my heart started racing again. "You may have said…something."

My mouth became dry and I had to work to get the words out. "What did I say?"

He took another step closer until he was directly in front of me. I had to look up to see his face. His lips curled up in a small smile. His raised his hand to my face, his fingers delicately stroking under my eye and down until it reached the corner of my lips. Unconsciously, I leaned into his touch. His voice lowered as he said, "something about drooling over for two years."

He looked up and met my eyes. "I pieced it together."

His eyes flicked to my lips and stayed there. I raised my hand and leaned it against his chest, running my fingers down the muscles I'd thought about for two years. I looked up and he started leaning down. My breathing became ragged as I leaned up toward him. I closed my eyes and could feel his lips brush across mine. My hands tightened around his shirt, trying to pull him closer to me. His lips touched mine again. He applied more pressure, his lips molding around mine. I moaned softly at the sensation. I ran my hands up his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down to me. I'd waited two years for this, and I wasn't going to let it stop now. Apparently Derek had the same idea because his hands roamed lower until he gripped the back of my thighs and lifted me up, pressing himself closer to me. I tightened my arms and kissed him more forcefully, my head spinning. He carried me over and set me on his desk. I wrapped my legs around him. His arms wrapped around my back and pulled me as close as he could. I felt his tongue on my lips and I opened my mouth. My tongue danced with his. I felt dizzy and my head was spinning.

I broke the kiss and gulped air, Derek doing the same. I looked up and met his eyes. He smiled and leaned his forehead against mine, catching his breath. We stayed like that for a few minutes, neither saying a thing. Eventually one of us had to break the silence.

"Wow," I said.

He let out a laugh. I looked up and saw him smiling. He said, "I've been waiting two years to do that."

Surprised, I asked, "Why didn't you say anything?'

He smiled sheepishly. "It's hard to think straight when you're near."

"I know the feeling," I said.

We stayed quiet for a little longer, each basking in the other's presence. Then a thought hit me.

"Can I keep the jacket?"

He starting laughing and wrapped his arms firmly around me. Looking down at me, he said, "Keep anything you like."

**Okay, so again I apologize. And I know this wasn't very St. Patricky, but it was the best I could do. And I know that March is over, but I still plan on doing one for Chloe's birthday. I will also be doing one for Easter and I think you guys will like that one. **


	6. Easter Eggs

**Okay everybody, I know that this is late, but I had a little time, so I decided to get this typed. In know I still have to do Chloe's birthday, and if I have time, mother's day, which is coming up. I decided that I probably won't do a one-shot for Derek's birthday because I really don't know what to do. If I get a really good idea, I may do it, but I just don't have any. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

**This one is like the first Valentine's Day one when they are all in first grade. It's technically a little continuation of the last one because it is just a few months later. **

"Chloe!" a voice shouted on the other side of my bedroom door. Squinting my eyes open, I looked over at the clock. 7:45. I quickly sat up. Today was Easter. Even though it was Sunday, my class was having an Easter egg hunt and the teacher was making us go, not that I would have minded. I love Easter egg hunts. Mom and Dad used to set them up for me around the apartment. One time I even found one in the freezer.

I threw the blanket off me a hurried out of bed. I went a little too quickly, however, and tripped over my blanket, sending me tumbling to the floor. I didn't care, though. I was too excited. Ms. Winters was giving a prize to the team who found the most eggs. We were required to have teams. Even though we got to pick them ourselves, we were required to have a boy-girl team. There was an equal amount of boys and girls, so the only problem was which girls were stuck with which boys. When Ms. Winters had announced her idea, the girls were instantly out of their seats and crowding around a small group of boys to get partners before all the good guys were taken. And by good, I mean the guys who don't stick worms in the girls' desk during recess and stick gum on their chairs. I didn't care about the rush though because no matter how fast the good guys were taken, I already had my partner.

I quickly got dressed and rushed out of my bedroom, almost running over Annette in the process. I knew she didn't like waking me up in the morning, especially on a Sunday. However, today I knew she was grateful to get a break from watching me while Dad worked. Dad took the day off and decided to chauffeur me himself to the Easter egg hunt. When I walked into the kitchen, Dad was already sitting at the table. He had in front of him a coffee cup and the morning paper. In my spot was a plate of pancakes, already covered in syrup. I smiled and climbed onto my chair. I instantly started shoving pancakes into my mouth.

"The hunt starts at 8:30," Dad said, "so you can take your time eating." His eyes lifted to meet mine and he smiled. He knew how excited I was.

"I know," I said, "I just want to get there."

"Well, we'll get there, so don't eat so fast. We don't need you to start choking," he said, shaking his head and looking down at his paper.

"Sorry," I said, eating slower.

When I had finished my last pancake and washed it down with a glass of orange juice, Annette grabbed my plate while I rushed out of my seat and ran to the door. Behind me, Dad followed, laughing. I waited for him to get to the door. He was going too slowly.

"Come on, Dad," I said.

"I'm coming. I'm coming," he said. "I'm too old to go that fast."

"You're not old Dad," I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the door.

"Well, thank you," he said and allowed me to drag him out the door and down the hall to the elevator. When we got in, he let me push the button. As soon as it opened again, I ran out. I waited for Dad when I got to the door. He was driving, so Milo wasn't waiting for us. I waited with the door man while he got the car and climbed into the back seat when he pulled the car up to the door.

I spent the car ride staring out the window. After a few minutes, Dad passed the school and kept going. The egg hunt was being held at the park because it had more room. Today was going to be great. I'd be happy if we won the prize, but I wouldn't feel bad if we didn't. I didn't need the prize, whatever it was. I just wanted to have fun with the hunt. I hoped there were enough eggs for everybody to find at least one. I would hate for somebody not to find one. I knew some of the kids in my class would try to find all the eggs for themselves. Among those people was one of my friends. Rae had matched up with Brady. She had a major crush on him and would do anything for him, which included helping him horde all the eggs.

My thoughts were interrupted as Dad stopped the car. I sat up as high as I could to see over the seat. In front of me, I saw my class running around and playing before the hunt started. I smiled and unbuckled my seatbelt. I opened my door and stepped out. I watched as Dad walked over to the other parents and started talking to them, then I ran over to my friends, who were waving me over.

"Hi," I said as I stopped in front of them.

"Hi," Liz said. She didn't bother hiding her excitement as she was bouncing up and down. I knew that not all of her excitement was for the hunt, but for her partner. She got Simon as her partner and all the girls hated her for the rest of the day. All the girls minus me, Tori, and Rae. Rae was too focused on Brady and Tori hated her brother. And as for me, I was perfectly happy with my partner.

I heard a car door slam behind me and everybody turned to look who had showed up. I didn't even have to look. I just had to look at Liz's reaction to know that Simon had just stepped out of the car. I turned around to see Tori, Simon, and Derek all walking over to us. Tori walked directly to Liz, ignoring the rest of us. Simon started talking to Rae as he waited for Liz to stop talking to Tori. And Derek walked up to me.

"Hi," I said brightly.

"Hi," he said.

"Ready for the Easter egg hunt?" I asked.

"I guess," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

I didn't take his un-enthusiasm to heart. I knew he didn't mean it. Ever since we exchanged Valentines cards, we'd become friends, much to my friends' confusion. In just the few months we'd been friends, I knew him better than I knew Liz or Rae, both of which I've known since before we started school. Every chance for partners in class resulted in the empty desk next to him being pulled closer and me sitting in it. Rae thought I was crazy. She still didn't like Derek. Liz was fine with him because she was best friends with Tori.

"Okay everybody, it's time to start," Ms. Winter called from a table lined with baskets. The entire class cheered and started running over to the table. I grabbed Derek's hand and pulled him with me. After he got the message, he picked up the pace and walked next to me. I didn't let go of his hand and he didn't pull it away. When we got to the table, I grabbed a basket. We only needed one because teams had to share. Once everybody had their baskets, Ms. Winter had everybody line up at the edge of the field. I looked over at all the teams next to us. Rae and Brady looked determined, Liz was laughing at something that Simon had said, and Tori was glaring at Peter, who she had been stuck with.

At the sound of a whistle, everybody streamed out into the field. Derek and I just walked. We headed to the edge of the field first to see if any eggs were hidden in the bushes. As I pushed through, my eyes focused on a small purple egg. I smiled and reached for it. Before I could grab it, another hand came out and snatched it. I looked up to see Brady at the end of that hand. Next to him was Rae who only looked at the Brady and not at the girl who had the egg stolen from her. I wanted to say something, but I didn't get a chance before they ran off to find more eggs. Instead, I walked over to Derek, who was looking in another bush. He heard me coming and he looked up.

"Find any?" he asked.

"Yeah, but Brady took it before I could grab it," I said.

"Maybe I should talk to him," he said.

"It's fine," I said, shrugging. "There are other eggs."

He looked at me for a second before nodding and picking up the basket. We continued looking into bushes until we concluded that they were empty. We spent the rest of the time looking in holes in the field and just looking on the ground. Unfortunately, it seemed that everybody had found them all. After a while, we stopped looking.

I looked into our empty basket and looked up at Derek. I said simply, "we lost."

He looked at me and started laughing. I just stood there looking at him funny. "Why are you laughing?"

He didn't answer. He just kept laughing. After a while, I started laughing too. I still didn't know what was so funny, but his laughing was contagious. Eventually, we were gasping for breath. When I finally regained my breath, I asked, "What was so funny?"

He looked up to answer me, but something behind me caught his eye. When I asked him what he was looking at, he pointed at the tree about 20 feet behind me. I turned around and looked but I didn't see anything.

"I can't see anything," I said.

"Come on," he said, grabbing me hand and pulling me after him.

When we got underneath the tree, he stopped and pointed up. I followed his finger and gasped. On a branch a few feet up was the prettiest egg I'd ever seen. It was blue and green and covered in sparkles. When the sun hit it, the light reflected off it and it shined. I turned to Derek and he looked at me. He smiled and looked back up.

"I want it," I said, looking at it.

"Then we'll get it for you," he said, walking over to the trunk of the tree.

"But it's too high," I said.

"Come here," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm going to lift you up," he said.

"But you might drop me," I protested.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked, looking a little hurt.

"Of course I do," I said. And I meant it. I took a deep breath and walked over to him. He laced his fingers together and bent over so I could put my foot into his hands. I put my hands on his shoulders and lifted myself. Once I was up, he lifted me so I was level with the branch. Making sure I steady, I looked in front of me. Nestled between the branches was the egg. It was even prettier up close. I reached out and grabbed it, holding it close so that I wouldn't drop it. I looked down at Derek and nodded. He slowly lowered me down, but I started to lose my balance and started to fall. I gasped as my falling made Derek fall over, with me falling on top of him. I sat up and looked down at him. He looked back at me and smiled.

"Did you get the egg?" he asked.

I held it out for him to see. He looked at it and back at me. "It's pretty."

I smiled down at the egg. "Yeah, it is."

I got off of him and he got up. He picked up the empty basket. I didn't want to put the egg in the basket, so I just held it as we walked back to Ms. Winters. Everybody else was already there. We stopped next to Simon and Liz.

"Okay everybody, I want every team to come up one by one and show me your eggs," she said.

The first team to go up was Rae and Brady, who had their basket full of eggs. Ms. Winters went through it and counted the eggs. She wrote down the number and took the basket. She did the same with the others. When it got to our turn, I was worried. She took the eggs from everybody, so would she take mine? I really wanted it. When we walked up, I heard snickers coming from others teams when they say that we had only had one egg. When I held the egg out to the teacher, she looked down at the single egg and smiled. She reached out and took it and me and Derek walked back to the others. From a few people away, I could see Rae and Brady laughing. I turned back to Derek, tears threatening to fall.

"At least we found one," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

I tried to smile, but it wouldn't form. Instead, I looked down at my feet.

"Okay class," Ms. Winters said, "With 15 eggs, the winners are Rae and Brady."

They ran up and retrieved their prize. It was an Easter basket full of candy. I sighed. I knew I shouldn't be so disappointed because it didn't matter. But I still found myself envious of them. I sighed and heard footsteps. I looked over to see two men walking over to us. One of them was my dad and the other was a tall man with black hair. By the way Simon reacted to him, I'd say that he was their dad.

"Ready to go?" Dad asked.

I nodded and walked over to him. We walked in silence to the car. He walked over to his side and go in. I opened my door and was about to get in when I heard someone call my name. I turned around and saw Derek running to me. He had something in his hands. When he got to me, he held out his hands. Nestled safely in his hands was the egg. I looked up at him hopefully and he handed the egg to me. I gently took it and looked down at it.

"Ms. Winters said I could have it," he said. "I know that you wanted it."

"Thank you," I whispered. I looked up at him and I threw my arms around his neck. He stiffened before wrapping his arms around me and hugging me back. After a few seconds, I let go and stepped back.

"Derek!" a voice called.

He turned and looked at Simon who was waving him over. He turned back to me.

"Bye," I said.

"Bye," he said, running off to Simon. I smiled and got in the car. After I got buckled in, Dad started the car and started the trip home. Looking down at the beautiful egg in my hands, I decided today was not a disappointment.


	7. Birthday Presents

**Okay everyone, I am aware that I am very late with this, but I bring it to you anyway. In this one, it is Chloe's 20****th**** birthday. I would make it her 21****st****, but then a lot of people will expect drinking, and that was the theme of my St. Patrick's Day one, so I'll make it her 20****th****. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

Staring into the mirror, I sighed. I'm twenty years old today. I should be happy. I should be celebrating. But I'm not. Today would be just like every other Saturday. I would get ready, go to work, then come home. Normally, I would get together with friends to celebrate my birthday, but this year I was alone. Both Simon and Tori were at college and my dad had to work overseas. And the one person I counted on to spend the day with me just had to have a business meeting in New Jersey. Derek promised me that he had the perfect surprise for my birthday but then he got called away. Now I don't even get my surprise.

Sighing again, I turned to the closet. I flipped through until I found a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I work as an assistant to a director. He isn't a widely known director so he doesn't require me to dress fancy. He just cared that I wore something. It worked for me. I didn't have to spend any extra money to buy new clothes just for work. Even if I had to, I couldn't buy then anyway. My job didn't pay much but it was a job and it was necessary if I wanted to become a director myself. The money I do have I need for college and I still had another two months of this semester left. Derek's money is used mostly for bills. He got a full scholarship so he doesn't need to limit his money for school. His job pays more than mine but he has to basically support us both. He doesn't complain but I know he wishes that we had more money. Right now we live in a way too small apartment that is even too small for me and with Derek being pretty much twice my size, I know he gets uncomfortable. We want to move, but we can't afford it.

Once I was dressed, I slid through the narrow space between the end of the bed and the wall and walked to the door. I walked out into the living room/ kitchen and poured myself a glass of orange juice. I can't drink coffee. It makes me jittery. Derek laughed at me the last time I drank it but he basically forbid me to drink it unless he was there. Let's just say that the last time didn't go well. After draining the glass, I quickly washed it and placed it back into the cupboard. I had twenty minutes before I needed to be at work and it only took ten minutes to walk there.

I checked my phone to check if Derek had called. There were to text messages but neither was from him. One was from Tori basically saying happy birthday and the second was from Dad saying he would call me when I got off work. Simon would send me a message when he got in from his…nightly activities. Even though I was early, I decided to leave for work. I grabbed my coat and walked to the door. When I opened it, I took a step forward and my foot hit something. I looked down to find a box wrapped in paper and tied with a ribbon. I bent down and picked it up. The tag said Chloe but there wasn't any from information. It was probably from the creepy guy who lives down the hall so I just set it on the table inside by the door and shut the door, locking it. The guy was a serious creep. He hit on me every day, even when Derek is with me. So far he hasn't done anything beyond flirting so I just ignore him.

When I got down to the first floor, I walked to the front door and pulled it open, only to be met with rain. What a great way to start my birthday. Not. Well, at least I have my jacket. I pulled my arms through the sleeves and zipped it up. I walked down the street for a little bit and then stopped at an intersection. I pushed the button and waited for it to say walk. As I was waiting, I car sped by and narrowly missed soaking me with a puddle. It did, however, soak my feet. I looked down and groaned. It was only ten in the morning and my day was already sucky.

Once I had managed to safely make it to work, I walked in and walked over to my "office." It wasn't really an office. More like a little room with a small desk and a chair. Today though there was an addition to it. Two additions actually. The first was another box, this one smaller, placed on the corner of my desk. It had the same type of wrapping and ribbon so I assumed it was from the same person. The reason it was on the corner of the desk, though, was because it wouldn't have fit in the middle. The second addition to my office was a person. More specifically, the woman who I work with as a co assistant to the director, though I had the title and she basically brings the snacks. I call her Megan.

"Is there a reason you're in here?" I asked, peeling off my rain soaked jacket and hanging it on the hook.

"I would think it was obvious," she said, smiling.

"Hmm, let me guess," I said, slipping off my shoes and setting them under my desk. "Did you get a promotion?"

"No," she said. "If I did I'd probably be running around the set screaming yippee."

I laughed. "Is there donuts in the vending machine?"

"No! They won't even look at my petition. It doesn't meet health codes or something stupid like that," she said, crossing her arms.

"Aright," I said. "I give up."

"Well, I don't know if you know this, but it's somebody's birthday today," she said.

"Whoever could it be," I said.

"Want a hint?" she said.

"Well, I shouldn't, but I'm never gonna get it," I said, smiling.

Instead of answering, she took out one of those noisemakers you see at parties and blew into it, throwing confetti over me. I laughed. Before I could speak, the door burst open and Eric, an intern, stood there and said, "Whose birthday is it?"

This caused me to laugh even harder and Megan joined in. Eric saw the confetti on me and ran out of the room shouting "It's Chloe's birthday!"

"So I take it that it's my birthday then?" I said, brushing the confetti off of me.

"Who told you?" Megan said, failing to pretend to be serious.

"Lucky guess," I said.

"Well, good," she said. "I was worried that it was me. I'm terrible at keeping secrets."

I opened my mouth to answer her when Eric burst back into the room. "Will there be cake?"

I looked at Megan. "Well, duh. What do you think, I'm stupid? Of course there's cake. It's not a birthday without one."

He looked relieved and ran out of the room again.

"Maybe you shouldn't have told him," I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Something tells me that he's reached his daily limit of sugar," I said.

"Really? I didn't notice," she said, smiling.

"Come on," I said. "We'd better get on the set before they come looking for us."

Megan left the room first and before I could step out, my phone buzzed. I walked over to my jacket and pulled it out. I flipped it open and saw that I had a text. It was from Simon.

_There's something I was supposed to remember today._

I texted back and said. _All that alcohol rotted your brain already?_

_ Sorry, the part of my brain for reading has been rotted._

_ Poor Simon. How are you going to be able to read phone numbers if your brain is rotted?_

_ It comes and goes. _

_ Remember yet? _

_ Yes._

_ Well?_

_ Well what?_

_ What did you remember? _

_ I forgot._

I laughed and shut my phone. I'd let him "remember" for a while. I shoved my phone into my jacket pocket and walked out of my office. When I got to the set, Megan was already there holding a cup of coffee out to Brian, the director. He took it without looking at her, his attention focused on the guy in front of him, who was the lead in the movie. Megan didn't take any notice to him ignoring her and just smiled over at me. I smiled back and walked up to Brian's other side.

"Ah, Chloe, there you are," he said. "Now we can begin."

I spent the rest of my day following orders and telling people where to stand. During my lunch break Megan presented to cake she promised and we had a mini celebration; Megan, Eric, and me. When work was done, I walked into my office and saw the gift sitting on the desk. I had completely forgotten about it. I walked over to it and picked it up. I was light. I shook it and heard something hitting the sides. I pulled the ribbon and then pulled off the paper. Underneath was a box. I opened it and looked in. inside was a key. Confused, I reached in and grabbed it. It was the kind of key made for a house. I picked up the tag but it only said my name. I thought back to the other present. It was wrapped the same and the tag said the same thing. I reached under my desk and pulled out my shoes. I quickly slipped them on and pulled on my jacket. I grabbed the key and walked out of my office. I waved goodbye to Megan and left for home, wondering what was in the other box.

When I got to my door, I unlocked it and opened it, shutting it behind me. I reached over to the table where I had set the box and tore off the wrapping. When I opened it, it was full of tissue paper. I put my hand in and felt through the paper. Not feeling anything, I pulled the paper out to find that it was the only thing in the box. I looked through every paper, but I couldn't find anything. I through the paper into the garbage and was about to throw the box away when something on the bottom caught my eye. I looked in and saw that something was written on the bottom. It was an address. I tore off the bottom and threw the rest away. I opened my door and walked out.

Crazy as it was, I drove to the address written on the bottom of the box even though I had no idea who sent it. When I got there, I was met with a rather large house. It looked empty. I got out and walked up to the door. I reached into my pocket and grabbed the key. I held it in my hand for a minute before putting it into the lock and turning. It unlocked. I took a deep breath and opened the door. I reached over to find a light but I couldn't find the switch. I walked a little bit and on a little table I saw a lit candle. I walked over and saw that there was a series of candles leading down a hall. I followed them until they stopped at a door. I slowly twisted it open and looked inside. It was basically empty except for a box sitting in the middle. I walked over and picked up the box. I opened it and looked inside. It was empty. However, unlike the other box, this one had no writing. It was just an empty box.

"If you want your present, you have to turn around," a voice said behind me. Hearing that voice, I smiled and turned, throwing myself into his arms and wrapping my arms around his neck. His lips instantly found mine and my head spun. I wrapped my arms tighter, trying to pull him closer, to which he happily obliged. When we came up for air, he leaned his forehead against mine and smiled.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

"To see your birthday present," Derek said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You're in it," he said, smiling.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

He reached into my pocket and grabbed the key. I placed it into my hand and looked into my eyes. I looked down at the key and just stared at it for a minute. Realization hit me and I looked back up at Derek, who was smiling.

"How?" I asked.

"You know that meeting I had today?" he said.

"Uh huh," I said.

"I got a promotion," he said. "which was all I needed to buy the house. The house didn't cost that much. The old owners just wanted to sell it at any price, so I made an offer. And they agreed."

"Oh Derek," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck again and burying my face into his neck.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

I loosened my grip and looked into his eyes. "I love it."

He smiled and leaned down. I happily met his kiss and melted in his arms. After a few minutes I remembered something. I pulled away and Derek looked down at me, confused.

"I forgot I was texting Simon," I said.

"You stopped for Simon?" he asked.

"Sorry," I said. I grabbed out my phone and flipped it open. I opened the text from hours ago and read it.

_I remembered to remember. Happy birthday. Oh, and I call picking out paint colors._

I laughed. "You told Simon?"

"Have you ever tried to keep something secret from him?" he asked.

Laughing, I pulled him down to finish that kiss.

**I know that this is months overdue, but here it is. Also, I wanted to say that I may have a story premiering in mid June. That's if I can get everything updated. **


	8. Author's Note

I know, I know, another author's note. Well, this one is important. I really want to write another chapter for this story but there is one problem. I'm out of holidays! I have no idea what to do for a holiday. If anybody has any ideas, I would be eternally grateful. I really need ideas!


	9. Trick or Treat

**Okay, so I haven't updated this story in absolutely forever and that's pretty much because I ran out of holidays. I know a lot of you want me to do one on Derek's birthday, and I think I have an idea, but I need to think about it more before I write it. I wasn't going to do a Halloween one, but I decided what the heck. This is going to be like my Easter and Valentine's Day ones where they are little except they are a grade older because I had to take into account the time of the year. Also, pretend that Simon is not diabetic or it will kind of ruin it a little.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

"Is it ready yet?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at Aunt Lauren.

"Not yet," she said, "Stop bouncing or I might get you with the needle."

"I can't," I said. "I'm too excited."

This was the first year I got to pick my own Halloween costume and I get to go trick or treating with friends. I was going with Derek, Simon, and Tori. Dad was even letting me have a sleep over at their house. I was so excited, though, that I accidently ripped part of my dress. Now Aunt Lauren had to sew it. I was really happy about my costume. I was Little Red Riding Hood. I even had a basket that I was going to use to hold candy. I didn't know what everybody else was going as, but I couldn't wait to find out.

"Now is it ready?" I asked.

"Almost," she said. "Just let me…okay, now it is."

I looked at the hem of my dress where I had got it caught and couldn't see any rip. Smiling, I twirled in my dress and ran to the mirror to see myself. I was wearing a blue dress that went down to my knees, my red cape, and a new pair of black shoes. Aunt Lauren had even put a blue ribbon in my hair. I squealed in happiness and ran back to Aunt Lauren throwing my arms around her and hugging her as tight as I could.

"Thank you," I said.

She laughed and said, "You're welcome. Now come on, you don't want to be late."

I grabbed my basket and ran to the door, eager to go. Aunt Lauren grabbed my coat and bag and followed me out the door. I got into the backseat of her car and buckled myself in, waiting for her to go.

It took half an hour to get to their house. When I saw the house come into view, I was jumping up and down in my seat. When Aunt Lauren stopped the car, I hurried to unbuckle my seat belt and get out. Even before she has shut off the car, I was halfway to the door. I could hear her laughing behind me. I waited for her at the door and let her ring the bell. After a minute, Kit opened the door and let us in. I politely waited for them to finish the boring grown-up talk and was running to the living room as soon as Aunt Lauren left. Simon was sitting on the couch trying to tie on his eye patch.

"Where's your hook?" I asked, walking over and setting my basket on the table. Simon looked up and smiled, saying, "Dad wouldn't let me have one."

"Why not?" I asked. "Captain Hook gets to have one."

"Yeah, but Captain Hook doesn't have a sister," he said. "Dad didn't want me poking Tori with it."

"That's not fair," I said.

"Yeah, but he didn't let her have a broom," he said. When he saw how confused I was, he said, "She's a witch. Dad didn't want her hitting me with the broom."

"So, what's Derek?" I asked, trying not to seem too curious.

"The Grim Reaper," Simon said.

"Did he get a scythe?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Well, how come he gets a scythe but you can't have a hook?" I asked.

"Because I'm not going to hit anybody with it," Derek said, walking up behind me. I turned around to see him set down his scythe next to my basket. He was dressed in a simple black robe with the hood down.

"I like your costume," I said.

"Thanks," he said, "I like yours, too."

I smiled and said, "Dad let me pick it out."

"Better watch out," Tori said, walking into the room. She was wearing a purple-black dress that went down to her feet and a black hat on her head, complete with point.

"For what?" I asked.

"For the big bad wolves," she said.

"Wolves?" I asked, a tiny squeak to my voice. I felt Derek take a step closer to me and he said, "Knock it off, Tori."

"Okay," she said, "But when they get you, Chloe, I told you so."

"There are no wolves," I said, failing to sound convincing.

"That's what _you_ say," she said, turning around and walking out of the room.

"Don't believe her," Simon said, "She's just trying to scare you."

"I'm not scared," I squeaked.

"Don't worry," Derek said, "I won't let any wolves get you."

I offered him a small smile and said, "I know."

"Alright, kids, everybody ready?" Kit asked, walking into the room.

"Can you tie my patch?" Simon asked.

"Of course," Kit said, walking over and tying it for him. When he was finished, we all left.

…,,,…

We went to a lot of houses. I got extra candy from a few ladies because they thought my costume was cute. We even got to see some of the kids in our class. Liz was out trick-or-treating with Rae. Liz was a pink fairy and Rae was the devil.

"I like your costume," Liz said to Simon, blushing.

"I like yours, too," he said, smiling.

"Would you ladies like to join us?" Kit asked.

Liz was only too happy to agree, gripping Simon's arm and nodding. I giggled and grabbed Derek's hand, pulling him. Tori walked next Rae, both of them glaring at each other the entire time. I was suddenly glad Kit didn't let Tori bring a broom or Rae might have gotten hurt.

We trick-or-treated for another hour before Kit said it was time to go. Liz and Simon were really disappointed and Derek and I had to pull them apart. We said goodbye to Liz and Rae and walked back to the car. Tori walked up next to me and said, "Look up."

I did, but I didn't know what she was talking about.

"It's a full moon," she said.

"So?" I asked.

"That's when the werewolves come out," she said.

"Shut up, Tori," Derek practically growled.

"Yeah," Simon said, "Or we're telling Dad you're being mean to Chloe."

"I wasn't being mean," she protested.

"You're making up stories," Simon said.

"No I'm not," she said, "It's true."

"Nu uh," Simon said, "There's no such thing as werewolves."

"Are too," she said. "You just don't see them because they come out after bedtime."

"Are not," he said.

"Are too," she said.

After a few minutes, Kit turned around and told them to stop. However, even though they stopped talking about it, I hadn't stopped thinking about it. _Werewolves. _I knew Tori liked to scare me to be mean, but what if she was right. Just because I've never seen one doesn't mean they don't exist. Derek seemed to know I was scared and reached out and grabbed my hand. I didn't look at him, but I gripped his hand and walked a little closer to him. He leaned down and said, "There's no such thing as werewolves."

"I know," I said, looking straight ahead.

"Then why don't you believe it," he asked.

I looked up at him this time and said, "What if she's right?"

"She's not," he said.

"How do you know?" I asked, "Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they aren't real."

"It doesn't mean they _are _real," he said.

"But-"

"Chloe," he interrupted, "They're not real."

"How do you know?" I said.

"Because I do," he said.

I didn't say anything. Instead, I just looked ahead and kept on walking. After five minutes, we were back to the car. I let go off Derek's hand and crawled in behind Simon. Derek crawled in after me and Tori got in the front seat. I spent the car ride listening to Tori brag to Simon that she had one more piece of candy than him. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had more than her. I looked through the window at the full moon. Derek nudged me and I looked at him. His raised eyebrows asking if I was okay. I nodded and turned back the front.

When we got back to the house, Tori and Simon rushed inside to start eating their candy as fast as they could. I started walking slowly to the house, but the rustling of the leaves as the wind blew scared me a little and I walked faster, Derek staying next to me the entire time. When we got into the house, I sighed in relief and took off my shoes, following Derek to the living room. Simon and Tori were sitting on the floor sorting their candy into two piles: the good candy and the gross candy. Derek walked straight past them and headed to the couch, where he climbing up and tugged off his black robe. He was wearing a sweater and jeans underneath. I untied my red hood and climbed up next to him. We spent the next half hour sorting our candy. Derek would eat pretty much any of it, but I didn't like the licorice or malted milk balls, so we traded. He got what I didn't like and I got a variety of what he had. Neither of us liked the candy corn, which surprisingly we got a lot of, and we put it on the table.

…,,,,…

We still had a few hours before we had to go to bed, so Kit put in a movie. It was only on for ten minutes before we all heard a crack of thunder and rain started pelting the windows. I squealed a little when the thunder boomed, but so did Tori. Then the lights flickered once and we were surrounded by dark. Lightning flashed outside and me and Tori screamed again. I moved closer to Derek and wrapped my arms around him, not really caring that I was squeezing a little tighter than I probably should have. A light flashed over our heads and Simon joined in on the screaming. The light got closer and Kit walked in, holding a flashlight. He flashed it over both of us and I almost laughed when I saw Tori and Simon on the floor hugging each other as tight as they could. When they realized that they were doing it, they pulled away, Simon looking like he was going to be sick.

"It's okay," Kit said, reassuringly, "The storm just knocked the power out for a little bit."

I watched him take three flashlights out from under his arm and hand one each to Simon, Tori, and Derek. "Sorry, Chloe, I only have three."

"That's okay," I said, moving closer to Derek, if that was even possible.

"I'll go see if I can get something working in the fuse box," he announced, leaving us alone in the dark. Simon turned his flashlight on and shined it in Tori's face accidently. Angry, Tori flashed him back and they ended up running around the room trying to get each other with the light. I stayed on the couch clinging to Derek.

"Derek," I said quietly.

"Hmm," he said, looking down at me.

"What if the werewolves come?" I asked, almost in a whisper. "It's dark."

"There are no such things as werewolves," he said.

"We won't be able to see them coming," I said, burying my head in his chest and tightening my grip.

I heard Derek turn on the flashlight I lifted my head. He handed me the flashlight and said, "Here, now you can see them coming."

I grabbed the flashlight and held it securely in my hands and as tight as I could. I rested my back against Derek and shined the light at every little noise. Simon and Tori eventually came back and settled on the couch next to us. Simon's flashlight had died and ended their game.

"I'm bored," Simon said.

"Me too," Tori said.

"I know!" Simon said, leaping off the couch, "Candy!"

Just as his hand touched his candy bucket, lightning flashed outside and there was a shadow in the window…a very wolfy shaped shadow. Beside me, Tori screamed as loud as she could. I couldn't tell though, because me and Simon were screaming just as loud. I flashed my light at the window, but the light glared off the window and I couldn't see outside. I could see, however, a circle of fog on the window. The kind of fog from when something was breathing on glass. I fumbled with the light and it dropped to the floor. When it hit, it flickered and went out. Simon fell back into the couch and Tori pulled him up, hiding behind him. I whimpered and clung to Derek, holding on for dear life. I felt him put his arms around me and hold me against him.

"It's the werewolf," I whispered.

"It's gonna eat us," Tori said.

"He's gonna eat you first," Simon said to Tori.

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because you started it," he said.

"I think it's gonna eat Chloe first," she said. "She's the one dressed as Little Red Riding Hood."

I was too scared to argue. _She's right. It's gonna be me. _I buried my head in Derek's chest and felt tears escape my eyes and soak his shirt. Lightning flashed again and I could feel Derek stiffen.

"Dad!" Simon shouted. Tori joined in.

I could hear feet pounding on the basement stairs as Kit came running.

"What happened?" he asked. I peeked out and saw Simon and Tori pointing at the window. Kit grabbed his flashlight and starting walking over.

"Don't go over there!" Simon yelled. "It'll eat you!"

Kit stopped and said, "What will eat me?"

"The werewolf," Simon said.

"Werewolf?" Kit said, "Who's been filling your head with that idea?"

Simon turned around to glare and Tori.

"Victoria," Kit said, in a stern parent voice.

"It was a joke," she said, "I was only trying to have fun."

He just shook his head and walked over to the window. I couldn't see past him, but I could see him shine his light out the window. He stood up and started walking to the front door.

"Dad no!" Simon and Tori shouted in unison. Kit opened the door and took a step out. we waited in fear for him to come back in. I could hear talking outside and I lifted my head up higher, confused. It sounded like he was trying to get the werewolf to come to him. I heard clicking and recognized it as claws hitting a sidewalk. Kit took a step into the house and behind him came the werewolf. Simon and Tori scrambled over and huddled next to us. When Kit shut the door, I waited for the werewolf to move. It started walking toward us and I grabbed Tori's flashlight just as it stopped in front of the couch. When I turned on the flashlight, I was met with large, wet pile of fur. It started to shake and we all yelled as we were sprayed with water. When it was done, it jumped on the couch and Tori screamed. I looked up to see a large, pink tongue drooling over Tori. I started laughing and they all looked at me like I was crazy, except for Derek, who was staring over my head.

It took a step closer and Simon and Tori fled to Kit. I felt a cold nose poke at my cheek and I let go of Derek to hold out my hand. It licked my fingers just as the lights turned on. Standing in front of me was a large Husky, completely soaked. Simon and Tori had equal looks of shock on their faces. I turned around to look at Derek, who was looking at the dog and had reached out to pet it. The dog, excited for the attention, laid his large head over both mine and Derek's lap and looked up with begging eyes, wagging his tail as fast as he could. I laughed again and started scratching behind his ears.

"Can we keep him!" Simon shouted, coming out of his shock and running over to us.

"Well, I'll make a few calls in the morning and see if I can find his owners," Kit said. "If I can't find them, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let him stay for a few days. But for now, I think it's past bedtime."

"Can he sleep with us?" Simon asked, looking back at his dad.

"I don't know if that would be fair to the girls," Kit said.

"I don't want him anywhere near me," Tori said. "He drooled on me."

"Well, Chloe, what do you think?" Kit asked, "Do you want to sleep in the boy's room?"

I nodded and Kit said, "Okay, I'll go get the extra mattress."

"I like him," Simon said.

"Who only like his because he drooled on Tori," Derek said.

"What's not to like about that?" Simon asked, grinning.

"He needs a name," I said.

"How bout Drooly?" Tori asked, walking out with a disgusted look on her face.

"He needs a cool name," Simon said.

"What about Wolf?" I asked, looking up at Derek.

"I like it," he said, looking at Simon.

"Cool," he said.

"Okay, everyone," Kit said, walking in, "Get ready for bed while I dry off this big guy."

"His name is Wolf," Simon said.

Kit laughed and said, "Fitting."

I got off the couch as Simon raced upstairs to change. Derek followed him up while I grabbed my bag and changed in the bathroom. When I was done, I walked upstairs and knocked on their door.

"Come in," Simon said.

I opened the door and looked in. Simon was shoving his dirty clothes in a overfull hamper. I looked down to see a large mattress on the floor. Derek grabbed two pillows off his bed and his blankets and put them on the bed. Simon did the same and crawled onto the mattress on the right side. Derek laid down on the left side and I shut the light off and crawled in between them. I snuggled into the blankets and starting falling asleep when something large jumped on the mattress. Wolf settled down at our feet and I heard him fall asleep. Next to me, Derek said, "See, I told you there's no such thing as werewolves."

"Okay, I believe you," I said.

"Good," he said. "Night Chloe."

"Night Derek," I said, drifting off. Just as I was almost asleep, Simon said, "Isn't anyone doing to say goodnight to me?" At that, Wolf barked.

**Okay, so I know this isn't very halloweeny, but oh well. And I am well aware that this isn't my best work, but again, oh well. I have a new poll on my profile which will affect which story I update sooner. If nobody chooses, I will pick myself. **


	10. Secret Santa

**A little late, but technically we're still in the holiday season, so I guess it works. Anyway, this is another one-shot featuring the little gang. And if anyone is confused about the teacher, remember that they are now in second grade because that's how the dates worked out.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

"I want everyone to reach into the bucket and take one piece of paper," Ms. Reynolds said. She set the bucket on top of her desk and stepped back. "If you get your own name, put it back and draw again. Okay, row one goes first."

I watched as the first row scrambled up from their seats and rushed over to the bucket. I know that just because they were first didn't mean that they would get a better person for secret Santa, but I still didn't like being in the last row. And from the look of Simon bouncing in his seat, neither did he. We were table buddies. We got assigned a partner at the beginning of the year that we would have for the entire year and I got lucky. I got Simon. Unfortunately, we weren't all lucky. Tori has to sit by Rae and Derek has to sit by Brady. I tried to tell Derek that it wasn't so bad, but he asked me how. I couldn't think of anything. And Tori was constantly complaining about how Rae always hogged the treat at snack time. Simon made a joke once that Tori could scream so loud that only Wolf could hear her. Tori didn't think it was so funny. Simon lost his front tooth that day.

The first two rows went and then it was row three's turn. I watched Tori walk up and grab one. When she opened it, her face got all scrunched up like it did when Simon popped all the heads off her Barbie's. I wondered who she got. When she walked back to her seat, I saw her glance at Rae, who was already sitting down and she got mad again. Uh oh. If I get somebody good, I'll switch with her.

Derek's row was next. He didn't rush to the desk like everyone else. He just walked normally. When he grabbed his, he just looked at it and shoved it in his pocket. I wondered who he got, too. We weren't supposed to tell each other, but Derek would tell me if I asked. When he sat back down, it was finally my turn to go up. Simon and I were the first ones up there and we reached in at the same time. I opened mine and read _Victoria. _Guess I won't be switching. Simon looked really happy with his. We went back to our seats and Ms. Reynolds started talking again.

"Now remember to put effort into your gifts," she said. "Even if you didn't get who you wanted, I want everyone to really think. You can either buy a present or make one. If you buy one, please don't spend too much. This isn't a competition. You have one week to get your gifts. We will open them next Friday before you all leave for vacation."

The bell rang after that and everybody started talking. I put my homework in my backpack and zipped it up. Derek walked up to us and handed us each our coats. I thanked him and reached into my pockets. Grabbing out my hat and mittens, I set the hat down and put on the mittens first. Then I pulled my arms through the sleeves and Derek zipped me up because I was wearing my mittens. I noticed Simon making a face when he pulled on his gloves, which were soaking wet from recess. He pulled them back off and stuffed them in his pocket. I giggled as Derek pulled an extra pair from his pocket and handed them over. We waited for Simon to finish and we left. Tori was already waiting for us at the front doors. Pushing them open, we stepped out into the cold. I tugged my hat farther down and followed them to Kit's car. Kit drove me home almost every day because Dad was really busy. On Mondays and Fridays, though, I went with Derek and Simon and Tori to their house because Dad wasn't home until late.

Kit was waiting for us and waved when he saw us. Tori got in the front seat and slammed the door as hard as she could. Derek and I looked at each other and kept our mouths shut. Simon scrambled into the back seat first and I got in after him, followed by Derek. I always got the middle seat, so I got to be by both Simon and Derek.

"Who did you get?" Simon asked me.

I leaned over and whispered, "Tori."

He made a face and I giggled. When Derek looked confused, Simon pointed to the front seat and Derek nodded.

"How about you?" I asked Simon.

He smiled big and said, "Liz."

"What are you going to get her?" I asked.

"I don't know yet," he said, his face getting serious. He looked over my head at Derek and said, "Who did you get?"

Derek just shrugged and said, "Nobody important."

"Will you tell me?" I asked.

"It's nobody important," he repeated and turned to look out the window. I was a little hurt and I turned back to face ahead. _Why isn't he telling me? Did I do something?_

After half an hour, we finally got to the house and we went inside. Wolf met us at the door and took time to get drool over all of us, mostly Simon. I think Derek taught him that but he won't admit it. Simon rushed to get his coat off so that he could escape the drool, but Wolf was faster. He tackled him and held him down until he was convinced that Simon was wet enough. I just laughed and followed Derek to the kitchen. Tori was already there. Simon took a little longer. When he walked in, he was wearing different clothes.

"Who's hungry?" Kit asked, walking in.

Like usual, Simon waved his arms.

"Everybody but Simon?" Kit asked as he walked to the fridge and opened the freezer.

"No!" Simon said.

"Alright, everybody but Simon it is," Kit said, smiling as he grabbed out the frozen chicken fingers.

"Dad!" Simon said.

"Okay, okay," Kit said, laughing.

When the chicken fingers were done, Kit divided them up between all of us and we ate while we did our homework. I was still confused about earlier. I thought that Derek was mad at me, but when he helped me with my math, he didn't seem mad. He even split his last chicken finger with me. Simon lost his last one in a surprise attack. Wolf snatched it off his plate when Simon reached down to get his reading homework. Even Tori laughed at that. She still didn't like Wolf all that much, but I think she was warming up to him. Especially since all of Wolf's antics were targeted towards Simon. I still think Derek taught him that, be he won't admit it.

When we were done with our homework, I followed Simon and Derek up to their room. Wolf came with and settled himself on Simon's bed.

"I need help coming up with something to get Liz," Simon said.

"Well, I need help coming up with something to get Tori," I said, crawling up onto Derek's bed. He followed me up and Simon went to his bed. Wolf welcomed him with a quick lick and then settled down and fell asleep.

We looked at Derek who said, "What?"

"Do you know what you're getting your person?" Simon asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Well?" Simon asked, "What is it?"

"I'm not telling," Derek said.

"Well, why not?" Simon asked.

"Because," Derek said.

"Fine," Simon grumbled. "I still need help with Liz. I want to get her something nice, but I don't have any money."

"That's because you spent it on your truck," Derek said.

"Hey, it's a nice truck! The headlights work!" Simon argued.

"You could get her something sweet," I suggested.

"Like what?" Simon asked.

"Liz loves Laffy Taffy," I said.

"But I don't have any money," Simon said.

"You could ask Dad," Derek said. "I'm sure he'd give you some if you shoveled off the steps or something."

Simon brightened up and said, "That's a great idea. I'll ask him now."

With that, he ran out of the room and I heard him running down the stairs calling for Kit. I turned to Derek and asked, "Got any tips for me?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if you're allowed to give it as a present," he said.

"What is it?" I asked.

When he told me, I smiled. It was perfect.

…,,,…

When the Friday finally came, I had my gift safely tucked into backpack. Ms. Reynolds had a hard time keeping everyone in their seats the entire day. We were all excited to get our gifts. When the clock hit two o' clock, Ms. Reynolds brought out a plastic container. When she opened it, we all sat up straight. Inside were little gingerbread men and women with different colored clothes made out of frosting. She also brought out milk to drink with them, both plain and chocolate. I instantly decided that Ms. Reynolds was the best teacher ever.

"Everybody gets two cookies. One man and one woman. When I come around, you can pick which ones you want and which milk you want. Don't eat your cookies until we're done passing out our gifts. Can I get a few helpers?"

A bunch of people raised their hands. Liz was picked to hand out napkins and cups. When she was done, Simon and Brady were chosen to help her carry the milk because she was carrying the cookies. She started in the back first, so I got to chose first. I chose a gingerbread man with white pants and a red tie and a gingerbread woman with a green dress. I also chose chocolate milk. Since Simon was carrying the milk, he let me pick his cookies for him. When everybody finally had their cookies and milk, Simon came back to his seat and sat down.

"Okay, in order to keep our secret Santa's secret, we'll go by rows. We'll start with the back row. Everybody close their eyes until we're all done. Peter, all the way. Now, the back row can hand out theirs."

I grabbed mine from by backpack and walked up to Tori. I quietly set mine in front of her and went back to my seat. When we were done, the fourth row went next and then the third and so on. When everybody was done, Ms. Reynolds told everybody to open their presents. I opened my eyes to see a small gift sitting in front of me. It was wrapped carefully in green paper and a red ribbon was tied around it. I looked at Simon, who had torn open his gift was currently smiling at a small blue truck. I turned back to mine and gently pulled the ribbon. I carefully unwrapped it and found a box. When I opened it, I gasped. Inside was a gold locket. I could tell that it wasn't new, but it was beautiful. I reached in carefully pulled it out.

"Whoa," Simon said when he saw it. "I wonder who gave you that."

I just smiled. I knew exactly who gave it to me. I looked up to the desk in front of me and saw Derek looking down into a box.

"What did you get?" Simon asked.

Derek turned around and set the box on our table. We looked in and Simon said, "Sweet!"

Inside was a boat load of giant candy bars. Simon looked at Derek and then reached into the box and grabbed out a giant Hershey's bar. Derek held the box out to me and I smiled and grabbed the same.

"Okay," Ms. Reynolds said, "Now you can eat your cookies and drink your milk. You can all talk until the bell rings."

Simon instantly bit the head off his gingerbread man. I ate mine carefully. Derek turned his chair around and set his cookies and milk on our table as we all talked and joked around. Tori even joined us, followed by Liz and Rae, who sat on the opposite end of the table from Tori.

When the bell rang, we all stood up and started to grab our stuff. While everybody was getting ready, I grabbed my locket and tried to put it on. When I couldn't get it, Derek offered to help. I pulled up my hair and turned around and he put it on for me.

"Come on guys," Simon said, in a hurry.

I rushed and got my coat on. Grabbing my backpack, I followed them outside. And like the Friday before, I followed them to the car and got in after Simon. After we had been driving for fifteen minutes, Kit asked, "So what did you all get?"

"I got a truck!" Simon said excitedly.

"I got candy," Derek said.

"I got a locket," I said, reaching up and touching it. With my other hand, I reached down and grabbed Derek's. He looked at me and I smiled. He smiled back and I turned back to the front.

"What did you get Tori?" he asked.

To answer him, she reached into her bag. Me and Derek plugged out ears and Simon looked at us confused. When Kit saw what Tori had, he just turned back to the road. Just as Simon was about to ask what it was, Tori pushed the button and the air horn went off.

**Okay, so I totally just wrote this in like three hours. It is now five in the morning and I need some shuteye. **


	11. New Year's Kisses

**Okay, so this one is for new years. It's kind of like my St. Patrick's Day one in the sense that they are in college and there may be a party involved. Chloe and Derek are not dating yet. This is not a continuation of my other one. They still go to the same college, but their relationship is different.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

"What do you think about advanced journalism?" Rae asked.

"As what?" I asked, looking up from magazine I was reading.

"As a class," Rae said. "I still need one more next semester and I was thinking of taking it."

"You said you had already picked out your classes," I said.

"I did. I just decided against them all after," she said.

I shook my head and looked back down. Even though we were on break, I stayed on campus instead of going home. Dad was on business and I didn't want to deal with Aunt Lauren's constant worrying about my 'social' life. Rae and Liz had gone home over Christmas but Rae had returned early. Apparently her home life wasn't as welcoming either. She spent the entire day that she arrived complaining about her mother. I was starting to get a little frazzled with all her complaining, but I only had to wait until tomorrow when Liz got back and she could complain to her.

I flipped a page and settled back on my elbows. We were currently passing the time in my dorm room being completely lazy. Rae was lying on the floor with a highlighter and a list of classes. Every so often, she'd highlight something, only to scribble it out with a pen afterwards. I was lying on my bed with a magazine that I couldn't care less for. It was some fashion magazine that Rae had forced on me. I think she was hoping I would take a hint, but I resisted. Next to Aunt Lauren, Rae was the worst when it came to my dating, or lack of. She kept trying to set me up with guys. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't mind having a boyfriend, but I didn't see the need to spend every minute trying to get one.

"I need a break," Rae said, tossing her papers aside. "Hand me the magazine. I want to see if we can find anything to dress you in."

"I'm not a Barbie doll, Rae," I said.

"Of course not," she said, flipping through the pages, "You're nowhere near her cup size."

"Rae!" I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"What?" she asked, innocently. "It's a good thing. Can you imagine walking around with those things? You'd be falling over."

I had to laugh at that and I got out of bed to plop down next to her. I spent the next hour saying no to everything she said. She wanted to 'hotenize' me for the party coming up. I tried to convince her to spend her attention on her own outfit, but she refused. She already had a date and apparently it was very unlikely that I would get one between now and Thursday, today being Monday. According to Rae, the only chance I would have at being kissed at midnight was finding a guy that was already at the party, not that I wanted to be kissed. Having some random guy try and shove his tongue in my mouth was _not _my idea of a good time.

The door burst open and Liz walked in, saying "Au revoir."

"Au revoir is goodbye," I said.

"Oh," she said. She thought for a moment before saying, "Anti-au revoir."

"Hi, Liz," Rae and I said at the same time.

"You're early," I said.

"Flight screw up," she said. She plopped down on my back and leaned over my head, "What are we looking at?"

"My soon to be sore back," I said.

She looked confused and looked down at my back, "Did you fall?"

Rae and I exchanged a look and we rolled our eyes.

"We're trying to pick something for Chloe for the party," Rae said.

"Correction," I said, "Rae is trying to pick something. I would be happy in jeans."

"I was thinking a mini," Rae said.

"It's almost January," I argued.

"You're going to be inside, duh," she said. Then she looked at me with a devious smile and said, "Unless of course you want some alone time with a guy."

"One, I don't even have a guy. And two, no way in hell," I said, counting with my fingers.

"You could be my date," Liz said, leaning over so that her face was in mine.

"Okay," I said.

"No," Rae said. "This is a new year's eve party. There will be kissing. And possibly groping."

"You will be the only one groping," I said.

"Will not," she said. "Brady will be doing just as much."

"Ew," I said. "Change of subject please."

"How about change of location?" Rae asked.

"If you're planning on taking me shopping you can stop right there," I said.

An hour later, I was in a dressing room trying to squeeze into a skirt that seemed to be made for a stick. I gave up after hearing a faint rip and silently set them down, hoping nobody else heard that. I wasn't fat. I was actually just over the minimum weight for someone of my height. However, Rae was always trying to get me into clothes that were too small, hoping it my show off my entire lack of curves. Even at nineteen, I had the body of a twelve year old. I was starting to come to terms with that fact, but apparently Rae hadn't.

"Not this one," I said, holding it over the door. It was soon plucked from my fingers and another set of clothes came flying over, causing me to duck and cover. I love Rae, I really do, but she needs to learn the art of subtlety. I picked up one of the article of clothes and saw that it was a black dress that I might actually wear in public. I slipped it on and looked in the mirror. Wow. It actually made me look my age. It was also pretty modest compared to what Rae usually wanted me to wear. It didn't show off too much of my nonexistent cleavage and it didn't go any higher than my knees. I could live without the entire lack of sleeves for almost January, but I could always wear something over it.

"I like that black one," I called. The door burst open and Rae was standing there looking me up and down. I couldn't help but notice the other customers giving us strange looks. I took in Rae's expression and knew this wasn't the one that she thought I was talking about.

"Liz picked that one," she said. I looked over Rae's shoulder to see Liz giving me two thumbs up and I gave her an appreciative smile back.

"I'm gonna go with it," I said, starting to walk back into the dressing room so that I could change out of it.

"How are you supposed to get a guy in that?" Rae asked. "It hides too much."

"I don't have anything _to _hide," I protested.

"Fine," she said, crossing her arms. "Go change. I'm hungry anyway."

I quickly changed into my own clothes and bought the dress. It was more than I wanted to pay for a dress, but it was either that or go with one of Rae's choices. No thank you. After purchasing the dress, we made our way to the food court. Just as we were passing the arcade, Rae stopped dead in her tracks and I ran into her. I expected her to snap at me or something, but her eyes were focused on something inside the arcade. I followed her eyes and saw a group of people surrounding the pinball machine. It was a bunch a college students, only a few that I actually knew. They were mostly girls, but there were two guys there too. In the middle of all the girls was Simon Bae, obviously impressing them with his 'skill.' The sight of the other guy made my breathing a little harder. It was Simon's brother, Derek Souza. Not the most sociable guy in the world, Derek mostly kept to himself when he could which made it hard to make conversation with him, not that I had the courage to do that. I had a class with him my freshman year and that had sparked an interest, not that I told anybody. Over the summer, that spark sort of burned out. However, upon seeing him in my intimate relations class last semester, there was definitely re-sparkage. I only said a few words to him and beyond those brief encounters, I doubted that he knew I existed.

"I wonder if Simon has a date," Rae said, mostly to herself.

"Sure looks like he has a lot of dates," Liz observed.

"Which is why we should keep going," I said, pushing Rae forward a little. She pushed my hand away and starting walking into the arcade. I groaned and followed, keeping my head down.

"Hi Simon," Rae said, pushing her way through to stand next to him. Liz and I stayed on the outside.

"Hold on," he said, not looking up from his game. "I'm close to beating my high score."

Watching him play, I began to wonder if he _was_ in fact trying to impress the girls. He seemed really into the game. He was probably already playing when the girls walked in and gathered around him. I glanced over at Derek, who was leaning against the wall successfully looking bored and glaring at the girl next to him at the same time. She continued to pester him and it wasn't hard to see why. Simon was considered the hot one, but there was something about Derek that went beyond that. Simon was college boy hot, but Derek…he seemed to have a maturity about him. His thick black hair was cut about halfway between his hairline and his eyes. His strong jaw was set. And an obvious different between Simon and Derek was Derek's abundance of muscles. He didn't openly flaunt them, but he didn't hide them either. Today he chose a t-shirt which was just tight enough to give a hint at what was beneath it. With his arms crossed and his biceps in full view, it was hard not to drool.

"Yes!" Simon said, his arms shooting up in victory. The machine flashed and chimed with him.

"Done now?" Derek asked, his voice laced with boredom.

"Yup," Simon said, grabbing his jacket off a nearby machine and turning around. He stopped, though, when he saw the group of girls behind him. Based on the utter look of surprise on his face, he obviously wasn't playing to impress anybody. He carefully maneuvered around everybody in an attempt to get out. Derek didn't even try. He just kept walking and they moved out of his way. Simon stopped at Rae and said, "You wanted something?"

"Yes, actually," she said. "I wanted to know if you had a date to the party on Thursday."

"The new year's thing?" he said. "I wasn't actually planning on going to that."

"What?" Liz burst out. We all turned to her and if I thought my blushes were bad, she just beat me, no question. Laughing nervously, she took a step over and hid behind me as much as she could.

"What my friend meant to say," Rae said. "Was why not?"

"Didn't seem like much fun," he said. "Most people are home for the holidays, so there wouldn't be that many people."

"So?" she asked, her hands on her hips, "There'll be beer, music, a countdown, what else do you need?"

He grinned and said, "Well, if you put it that way."

He craned his neck and said, "You up for it, bro?"

Derek grunted an answer which apparently meant yes. Simon turned back around and said to Rae, "Aren't you dating Brady Hirsch?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Then why did you ask me if I had a date?"

"Well, _I _have a date," she said. She turned to me and Liz and I had a bad feeling. "But my friends here do not."

"Rae!" I said. "I never agreed to you trying to set me up with someone."

"Well, somebody has to and you obviously aren't going to do it," her hands back to her hips, defiance evident in her stance.

"I don't need a date," I argued.

"You'll have more fun if you have one," she said.

"Okay, ladies," Simon said. "I'm sensing a conflict of interests here and I think I have a solution."

We looked at him and he said, "Liz. Want to go to the party with me?"

Her eyes went wide and she looked to me to see what she should do. I gave her an encouraging nod and looking anywhere but Simon's face, she said, "Okay."

"Problem solved," Simon said, smiling. "I'll see you ladies later."

He walked past us, Derek right behind him. When Derek walked past me, I stole a glance up and our eyes met briefly. I quickly looking away and was worried that I was blushing. I looked over at Rae and she didn't look too pleased with me.

"What?" I asked. "He was the one who asked Liz."

"I'm getting you a date," she said, walking past us towards the food court.

"Something tells me this isn't over," I said. I looked over at Liz, who was playing with her hair and looking off into space.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Hmm?" she said, looking over at me. "What?"

"I asked if you were okay," I explained.

"Of course I am," she said. She bit her lip and looked like she wanted to say something.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this," I apologized.

"It's not that," she said. "It's about Derek."

I straightened and said, "What about Derek?"

"I think he likes you," she said.

"Because he looked at me?" I said. "That doesn't mean he likes me. I was probably just in his way."

"He's looked at you before," she said. "Last semester in class. He sat two rows behind us. Remember all those times I was late and you couldn't save me a seat next to you? Well, I sat in the row behind Derek and he watched you a lot. And he had this look on his face. I think he likes you."

Not wanting to get my hopes up, I said, "It was probably nothing."

She sighed and nodded. "Come on. Rae is probably already eating."

I followed her out and thought about what she had told me. _He watched me?_

…,,,…

"You know, we should really do something about your hair," Rae said, taking a step back to study me. "I could curl it."

"You might as well not even bother," I said. "It won't stay that way. My hair never stays curled long."

"Oh well, it's not there's anyone to appreciate it," she said, turning away. I just sighed and looked in the mirror. She still wasn't happy with me about what happened at the arcade. I looked at myself and saw that I didn't look half bad. Liz did my makeup, meaning I didn't have much on, just enough to bring out my eyes a little more. She was currently sitting on my bed, fiddling with her hair again. I knew that she was nervous. It was hard to get a date with Simon and I'm sure she was worried about his expectations.

"Okay people, time to party," Rae said, waving us to the door. I grabbed my keys and phone and left with them. It didn't take long to get there. Walking in, I was glad that I didn't bring something to wear over my dress. It was like stepping into a sauna. And based on the sweat pouring off of some people, it was only going to get worse.

We found Brady standing with his friends and Rae asked, "Why is it so hot?"

"There's something wrong with the furnace," he explained.

"Well, shouldn't somebody open the windows?" she asked.

"Babe, they are," he said, pointing to a set of windows which were wide open.

"I'm going to go find Simon," Liz said, "What to come with?"

"Sure," I said, following her. I had to dodge a few people who were so drunk that they were falling over. I could already tell that I wasn't going to enjoy myself. It was too hot, the music was up way too loud, and almost everybody here was drunk off their gourds.

"There he is," Liz said, pointing. I looked over and saw him talking to Peter, a guy that was in my government class.

"Hey Simon," she said when we finally got to him. He looked at her and smiled, "Hey yourself. You look great."

She blushed and looked down. He looked at me and said, "You look great, too. And I'm not just saying that to be polite."

I smiled and said, "Thanks."

"Want to dance?" Simon asked Liz.

"Okay," she said timidly. She looked at me and I said, "Go ahead."

I watched them walk over to an empty spot and start dancing. Looking around, I found an empty seat and I seat and I sat down. _Just another hour until midnight and then Rae will let me leave._ I spent the next half hour watching everybody, from Simon and Liz dancing to something that I would have liked to keep to the imagination, which was Rae and Brady groping each other in the corner. I was asked a few times to dance, but I refused. After another ten minutes, I couldn't take the heat anymore and found an open door to outside. Walking out, I instantly felt a chill and I welcomed it. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes, breathing in the cold air.

"Heat stroke?" a voice asked.

I gasped and pivoted to see Derek sitting in a chair, his legs propped up on a bunch of stacked crates. I took deep breaths, trying to get my heart rate back to normal.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

"It was too hot in there," he said. "I'm just waiting until I can slip out without Simon noticing."

"Ditto," I said, "Except I have a Rae where you have a Simon."

He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. Realizing how stupid I sounded, I blushed and looked away.

"It's cold out," I said, making small talk.

"Then why not go back inside?" he asked.

"It's too hot in there," I said, echoing his earlier words. "Anyway, I don't really mind the cold. A nice change."

He nodded, but didn't say anything. The next few minutes were filled with awkward silence. A sudden wind picked up and I rubbed my bare arms. I heard Derek get up and a second later, I felt something warm around my shoulders. I looked back and saw Derek putting his jacket on my shoulders, protecting me from the cold.

"What about you?" I asked.

"I'm good," he said.

"Thank you," I said, pulling it closer around me.

"Ever find a date?" he asked out of nowhere.

I looked up at him and said, "No, why?"

"Just thought the Rae would have asked every guy she could find in order to get you one," he said.

"She basically did," I said. "But they were either already going with someone or not interested. Not that I mind, though. I like going by myself."

"Why?" he asked.

"If I go with someone, I'm obligated to spent time with him, you know, dance and stuff, and I don't want to be obligated," I said.

"Makes sense," he said.

"Why don't _you _have a date," I asked.

"Didn't ask anyone," he said.

"You don't like someone?" I asked.

"Sure I do," he said, looking down at me. "But I'm not about to announce that I like her in order to get a date to a stupid party."

"Well the stupid party could just be the beginning," I suggested. "You could go on an actual date later on."

"I could," he said, looking off into the night. There was a commotion inside and we looked to see what it was. "Guess it's time."

"Want to count down?" I asked.

"Sure," he said.

Together we started.

Ten

Nine

Eight

Seven

Six

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

On one, Derek leaned down and I didn't know what he was about until I felt his lips press firmly to mine. I sharply sucked in a breath and raised my cold fingers to his neck, pulling him down farther. He obliged and answered by grabbing my waist, pulling me to him. My arms traveled the rest of the way up and around his neck, completing our link. I had spent countless nights imagining what it would feel like to kiss the mystery that is Derek Souza, and now that it was happening, I realized how off I was. I had imagined that it would feel great, but it was amazing. Pressed against him, I finally felt how muscular he actually was, his strong arms wrapped securely around me. And he was warm. Really warm. The exact comfortable warmth that I never wanted to leave, like a warm bed on a frosty morning. And his lips. Oh, his lips. Those wonderful, soft, enticing lips. If only I could forever feel those lips against mine.

We both pulled away at the same time, each needing to restock our oxygen. He didn't let me go, though, and I didn't pull away. I pulled my arms down so that my cold fingers could rest against his warm chest. I leaned my head against that same chest and inhaled deeply, breathing in the smell of him, which smelled oddly like cinnamon. He rested his head on mine and took deep breaths.

"Good party," I said.

His rumbling laughter vibrated his chest and I smiled. I felt his breath on my ear and he said, "So, about that date later on."

I pulled away slightly and looked up at his face. "What date?"

"Well, you said the stupid party could just be the beginning and that there could be a date later on," he said.

"I was talking about the girl you liked," I said.

He gave me a look and I finally got his meaning. Grinning stupidly, I pressed my face into his chest and started giggling uncontrollably.

"The date?" he asked.

"I'm free tomorrow," I said.

"It _is _tomorrow," he pointed out.

"Well then, how about breakfast?" I asked.

"It's 12:15 in the morning," he said.

"They have twenty-four hour places," I said.

"Alright, breakfast it is," he said.

"Good, cause I'm in the mood for pancakes," I said. He laughed and kissed me again.

**And…done. Well, here it is, 25 days late. Hopefully you guys are catching on to my updating pattern. The next holiday one-shot will skip ahead to July. It'll be more American themed. They will be little kids. And I'd just like to point out that the Barbie conversation actually happened to me. My family has the weirdest discussions at Christmas, from the horrible back pain Barbie must have to the world record for weight lifting using the vaginal muscles…like I said, weird. **


	12. Fireworks

**I am back, for a little while anyway. I have no excuse for the lapse in time.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

**It's the 4****th**** of July. They are little kids. By the way, they might be done with the second grade in this one, but I will be writing other one shots with them as little kids and they will still be in the second grade. I'm not going to age them any more than the second grade. **

"Will there be fireworks?" I asked as I watched Dad gathering our supplies. We were spending the 4th with Derek and his family at his house. I was really excited, but was trying to stop bouncing. As of a month ago, I was done with second grade and Aunt Lauren was always telling me that I was getting older and big girls didn't bounce around so much. I really did try, but I just couldn't stop. Derek always said that I look like a kangaroo on coffee.

"I'm not sure," Dad replied. I watched him open a small, paper bag and then look back at me. When he saw I was looking, he shut the bag and stuffed it in his pocket, making sure that I couldn't peek when he had his back turned.

"What's that?" I asked. My curiosity made me temporarily forget about my excitement-induced bouncing and I leaned forward.

"Nothing you need to worry about," he answered, hiding a smile. "Why don't you go get the cookies you made yesterday? They're in a blue tub on the counter."

"Okay," I said, hopping of the chair. I rushed into the kitchen as fast as my little legs could carry me. I slipped when my socks hit the slick kitchen floor and was sent sliding on my butt into the wall.

"Are you okay?" Dad asked, his head peeking around the corner.

"I'm fine," I said, standing up and brushing myself off. "I just slipped."

"That's what you get for running with socks in the kitchen," he scolded, his smile ruining the effect.

I just stuck my tongue out at him and reached up to grab the cookies. Sticking your tongue out was another thing that Aunt Lauren said big girls didn't do. I made sure not to do it in front of her, but that didn't stop me from doing it to Dad. He just shook his head and walked back to the living room where he was preparing everything. I looked down at the tub of cookies in my hands. I could clearly see them through the clear lid. I made them yesterday with Dad supervising. I tried to decorate them for today, but it didn't really work. Instead of stars and stripes, I got blobs of red, white, and blue. They looked funny, but Dad assured me that they tasted good, so I didn't really care.

Walking back into the living room, I handed Dad the tub and went back to supervising his packing. When he walked by me with a bag of stuff, I heard a crinkling in his pocket and I remembered about the paper bag in his pocket. _What could it be?_

When Dad had everything packed and in the car, we finally left. I watched out the window at all the houses. There were a lot of people in front of them. I even saw a few kids from school running around. They all looked like they were having fun.

"Are we almost there?" I asked, looking at Dad.

"Five more minutes," he informed me.

I slumped back into my seat and sighed. _Why does it always take so long?_

Five minutes later, Dad pulled into an oh-so-familiar driveway and I started bouncing in my seat again. When we cleared the trees, I saw Simon standing at the door holding back Wolf, who couldn't decide whether to meet the car or lick Simon's face off. When Dad stopped the car, Simon let go of Wolf's collar and they raced to the car. Wolf won, but he didn't brag. I jumped out of the car and hugged Wolf and then Simon. I hadn't seen them since the middle of June.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi," he replied, grinning. "Derek's in the backyard. Come on."

I followed behind him and we ran around to the back of the house. Sure enough, Derek was there. He was standing by a table which had a stack of paper plates and other stuff. Without warning, I launched myself at him and almost toppled him over. He caught me though and I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him as hard as I could. I felt him wrap him arms around me and hug me back.

"Hi, Derek," I said.

"Hi," he said.

The sliding glass door opened and Tori came out. She didn't hug me, but she did say hi. From Tori, that was as good as it got.

"How's your summer going?" I asked them.

"Boring," Tori said, sitting down in one of the chairs and crossing her arms.

"Tori's just mad because Liz is in California for the summer," Simon said.

"Why is she in California?" I asked.

"Visiting family or something," Simon said, "And Tori's stuck here with us."

"I'd rather spend the summer with drool-face," Tori said, looking over at Wolf. He looked over at her when she said that and cocked his ears. I giggled and looked at Derek.

"Do anything fun since I was here?" I asked.

"Not really," he said. "Mostly swimming and stuff. Simon almost broke his arm."

I gasped and looked over at Simon. "What happened?"

"I was climbing a tree," he said.

"A dead tree," Derek said.

"I didn't know it was dead!" Simon protested. "It looked fine to me. Anyway, I got about halfway up and the branch broke. Nothing serious, but I did have to get stitches."

He pulled up his sleeve and showed me the scar. "That must have hurt."

Simon puffed out his chest and said, "I didn't feel a thing."

"Is that why you were crying?" Tori asked.

Simon glared at her. "I was not crying! I had bark in my eyes!"

"Why were you climbing the tree?" I asked.

"To get to the top," he said. "I wanted to see if I could see the house."

"And you couldn't have picked a better tree?" I asked.

"I didn't know it was dead. And it had a lot of branches, so it was easier to climb," he said.

"Were you by yourself?" I asked.

"No, Derek was with me," he said. "He didn't tell me the tree was dead until I was halfway up."

"Why not?" I asked, looking over at Derek.

"I didn't know he was going to climb it," Derek argued. "He ran ahead."

"Well, _I_ wouldn't have told him it was dead," Tori said. "He was stupid enough to climb it in the first place. It wasn't like he would have actually made it."

"Like you would have made it to the top," Simon said.

"I would have," she said, "_Without_ falling."

"How about we have a day without the constant arguing," Kit said behind us. I turned around to see him and Dad walk out of the house.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi, Chloe," he said. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

I smiled. I watched them walk over to the grill.

"When's lunch?" Simon asked.

"When I get this grill started and the meat cooked," Kit answered. "Derek, why don't you go show Chloe that bird's nest you found the other day?"

"Sure," he said. He started walking towards the woods and I followed after him.

"You two go, too," Kit said.

"But I've already seen it," Simon said.

"Maybe the eggs have hatched," Kit suggested.

I heard Simon sigh and then heard his loud footsteps as he ran to catch up. Tori beat him to us and bragged about it the whole way. Wolf walked in front of Derek and me. He ran off every once in a while to chase a squirrel up a tree.

"What kind of bird lives in the nest?" I asked Derek.

"I think it's a robin," he said.

"Are there eggs in it?" I asked.

"A few," he said.

"Will the mother be mad if we look?" I asked.

"We're not going to touch them," he said. "I'll just lift you up so that you can see them."

"Okay," I said.

After a few minutes, Derek stopped walking. I turned to see why he stopped and found him looking up. I followed his eyes and saw the bottom of a bird's nest right above us. Derek stepped back and put his hands together to lift me up. I carefully stepped into his hands and placed my hands on his shoulders. When he was satisfied that I was secure, he lifted me slowly. When I was high enough, I peeked over to side of the nest and saw three little blue eggs.

"Are they hatched yet?" Simon asked.

"No," I said. I nodded at Derek to start lowering me down. Wolf, however, had other ideas. He came barreling out of a bush following a frantic squirrel. The squirrel ran past Derek and so did Wolf, who knocked into him. Derek lost his balance and slipped backwards. I fell with him and ended up falling on top of him with an "oof."

"Sorry, Derek," I said, scrambling off him.

"It's not your fault," he said, sitting up.

"Wolf!" Simon called, trying to get his attention. "I can't see him anymore."

"He'll get tired and come back," Derek said, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Think lunch is done yet?" Simon asked.

"No," Derek said, "But we can go check."

"Yes!" Simon said, racing off down the trail towards the house. Tori walked ahead of us as we walked back.

"Is there going to be fireworks?" I asked Derek.

"I don't know," he said. "Dad never said anything about them. But he was hiding something."

"My dad was, too," I said. "He had a small bag and he put it in his pocket so that I wouldn't see it. What do you think it is?"

"I'm not sure," Derek said. "But I think we can cross off fireworks if it fit in his pocket."

"Dang," I said, "I was hoping for fireworks."

"Well, what _your_ dad was hiding wasn't fireworks, but what my dad is hiding might be. He has it in the garage and he won't let us look," Derek said.

"Maybe we can sneak in and peek," I suggested.

"Can't," Derek said. "He has the door locked. Simon already tried."

"Maybe if you borrow one of your dad's cards, we can get it unlocked," I said.

He stopped mid-step and just stared at me.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Have you ever picked a lock before?" he asked.

"No," I said. "I've never had a lock to pick."

He just shook his head and started walking again. "A card won't work."

"Why not?" I asked, catching up with him. "It works on TV."

"That's TV," he explained. "They always make things look easy. Besides, how would we get in the garage without Dad finding out?"

"One of us could be look out while the other picks the lock," I suggested. "And if your dad or my dad comes, the lookout can tell the other. Kind of like that one guy we learned about in school. That guy from that one war."

"Paul Revere?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, him!" I said. "We could make Simon do it. And if somebody comes, he can say that thing that Paul Revere says…whatever that is."

"Fine," Derek said.

"Yes!" I said. "Hey Simon!"

I went running ahead to catch up with him. He had a pretty good head start so I was out of breath by the time that I got to him.

"We have a job for you," I said.

"Is it dangerous?" he asked.

I hesitated and said, "Only if we get caught."

"I'm in," he said, grinning.

"We need you to stand lookout while we break into the garage," I explained. "You can be like that Paul Revere guy."

"Do I get to dress up?" he asked.

"Why would you want to?" I asked.

"Well, if you want me to be like Paul Revere, shouldn't I at least look like him?" he asked.

"No, but you can sound like him," I said.

"Alright," Simon said. "But I get an extra cookie."

"Deal," I said.

…,,,…

"Anybody coming?" I whispered to Simon.

"Nope," he whispered back. "They're still outside."

"All clear," I repeated the message to Derek, who was currently trying to get into the garage. I didn't really know what he was doing, so I just let him work in peace. He had said that he had read this in a book one time and that the guy swore it worked. When I asked him what the difference between that and what I saw on TV was, he explained that books were more accurate. I just let continue and watched.

"Almost," he muttered. I heard a click and then he reached up and turned the knob.

"How did you do that?" I asked, looking at him in awe.

"I told you," he said. "I read it in a book one time."

"I won't doubt you again," I said.

"Yeah you will. But I won't hold it against you," he said. "Now come. We don't have much time."

We made sure that nobody was coming and then snuck in. It was dark, but Derek didn't want to risk either of our dads seeing the light. I couldn't really see where I was going, so I followed close behind him.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"I saw him put in it in the cabinet," he answered.

"Where's the cabinet?" I asked.

He stopped suddenly and I ran into his back. "Here."

"Thanks for the warning," I said, rubbing my sore face.

"Sorry," he said. "The knob is high, so I'm going to have to lift you up."

"Last time you did that, we fell," I reminded him.

"There's nobody here to push me, so come on," he said. He wound him fingers together again and I stepped into his hand. "Don't open it. Just turn the knob and pull enough so that it won't close again."

"Okay," I said. He lifted me up and I grasped the cold knob. When I turned, the knob stopped. "It's locked."

"What?" he asked. "Why would he lock it?"

"Maybe he knew you would get in," I suggested, looking down.

From outside the room, we heard Simon shouting. "The parents are coming! The parents are coming!"

I scrambled down and ran for the door with Derek at my heels. We made it out and managed to shut the door before Kit turned the corner. He stopped in his tracks when he saw us standing there trying not to look guilty. He glanced at the door and back at us, shaking his head.

"Lunch," he said. "And stay out of there."

"Why?" Simon asked. "What are you hiding?"

"Who says I'm hiding anything?" Kit answered, smiling.

"You locked the door," Simon accused, crossing his arms.

"I lock a lot of doors," he countered, crossing _his_ arms.

"Only when you don't want us getting him," Simon said.

"Exactly," Kit said turning around and walking back down the hall before turning the corner and vanishing from sight.

"Did he answer me?" Simon asked.

"No," Derek said. He walked past Simon and followed after Kit.

"What just happened?" Simon asked.

"We're missing lunch," I explained.

"Oh!" he said, bolting down the hall towards the door. I followed him outside and was about to get a plate when I saw that Derek had already gotten me one and had even filled it for me.

"Thanks," I said, pulling myself up next to him.

He grunted an answer, his mouth full of food. I dug into my potato salad and listened to Dad and Kit talk about work or something. He wasn't very interesting, but everybody else had their mouths full and couldn't exactly talk.

"Wanna go swimming later?" Simon asked after swallowing.

"I didn't bring my suit," I said.

"Tori has an extra," Kit said. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind letting you use it."

"Fine," Tori said. "It doesn't really fit me anyway."

"Thanks, Tori," I said.

She didn't answer me and I went back to my lunch.

…,,,…

A half hour later, we were standing on the edge of the large pond behind the house. Simon immediately found the rope and swung himself in, splashing us in the process. Tori, upon being splashed, launched herself into the pond and tried to drown Simon. After a few minutes, we followed them in to save Simon. We spent the next hour splashing each other and goofing around. Every once in a while, Derek would dive underneath and pull me under. Even after he'd done it a few times, I would still kick and punch, only to have him pull me up and hold us both afloat as I clung to him. Simon tried it once and I nailed him in the stomach with my foot. He stopped after that.

After another ten minutes, I got out of the water and wrapped myself in the towel. I sat down underneath a tree and watched them. Derek came out five minutes later to see if I was okay. When I assured him that I was fine, he fetched him own towel and sat down next to me.

"What do you think they're hiding?" I asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "Maybe it's nothing."

"But then why was the cabinet locked?" I asked.

"Maybe he has something in there that he doesn't want us playing with," he suggested.

"Then what was my dad hiding?" I asked.

"It really could've been nothing," he said. "And even if it _is_ something, don't hatch some scheme to figure it out."

"Why not?" I asked. "You don't want to help me?"

"Whatever they're hiding, if they're hiding anything at all, is probably for tonight anyway. Why try and figure it out when you're going to find out tonight anyway?" he asked.

"Fine," I said. "But I still want to know."

…,,,…

"Alright, everybody get together," Kit said.

I stood next to Derek and waited. Kit brought a paper bag out from behind his back. I looked up at Derek and he gave me a look that said 'see?'

"You guys have to promise to be careful," Kit said. He looked pointedly at Tori and said, "And don't use it against your brother."

He reached inside the bag and drew out a sparkler. I looked over at Simon and Derek and grinned.

"One for everybody," Kit said. He handed us each one and then he brought out a lighter from his pocket. "Everybody ready?"

We all nodded and he lit Simon's first. Sparks came from the tip and he waved it around, creating lines. Tori was next and then Derek, then me. I grinned as I waved mine around. I drew a squiggle and Derek drew a circle around it. I looked over at Tori, who was ruining everything that Simon drew. Eventually, the flame went out and the fun was over. Kit collected the sparklers and disposed of them.

"Thank you," we all said.

"You're very welcome," Kit said.

"What were you hiding?" I asked Dad. He looked at me confused for a second before remembering.

"Oh," he said. He reached into his pocket and brought out the little bag. He told us to hold out our hands and close our eyes. I did and felt him drop something in my hand. When I opened my eyes, I saw a small pile of little white balls. From the look on everybody else's faces, they didn't know what they were either.

"Throw one on the ground," Dad instructed. I picked on up and tossed it at the ground, earning a 'pop.' Simon's eyes lit up and he threw one of him. We all started throwing them as hard as we could. Wolf got excited and tried to catch the pops. We would throw one and when it popped, he would follow it. It was all fine until Tori 'accidently' threw one at Simon's feet and he yelped and fell over, dropping all of his and causing one large 'pop.' He looked down and then he looked up at Tori before launching himself at her, causing her to drop hers. Kit and Dad bolted forward. Kit grabbed Tori, who was about to launch herself at Simon and Dad grabbed Simon and held him back. I looked at Derek and he nodded. We both lifted our hands and dropped them at the same time, releasing the contents on the ground to create two large 'pops.'

We watched our dads struggling to hold back Simon and Tori for a little longer before Derek said, "Want a cookie?"

"Sure," I said.

I followed him over to the table and he reached up and drew out three. He handed me one and then he handed one to Wolf.

"I think we should have fireworks next year," I said.

"I don't know," Derek said. "I think we have enough entertainment now."

I laughed and watched the show.

**I'm not really sure which one I'm going to do next, but I think I might either do Derek's birthday or Mother's day. **


	13. Birthday Surprises

**Alright, I've been planning on doing Derek's birthday at some point, so I might as well do it now. I did have some help with ideas for this story, so I'd like to thank Brittana4ever for the ideas.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

**This is a sort of continuation of Chloe's birthday which means it will mention some things. It's three years later.**

**Derek's POV**

The snow billowed around me as a stared out into the white mass. Sitting on the bare branch of an oak tree in the middle of the woods wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. Especially when it's February and temperature decided to plummet down to negative twenty five. I would like to be inside, sitting in the warmth of the fireplace and listening to Chloe talk about her day. Unfortunately, today happened to be an "important" day and I knew that the house was filled with people even though I told Chloe no. Apparently birthdays are times of celebration. I've never seen the appeal, especially when they're mine. The only birthday I'm willing to make a big deal about is Chloe's, and that is only because it makes her happy. I, on the other hand, would rather spend my birthday like any other day. Which is why I'm sitting in a tree in the middle of the woods instead of being inside with the "surprise" party.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled the collar of my coat farther up to protect my face. The snow was coming from behind me, but the cold was attacking all sides. Leaning back, I closed my eyes and listened to the wind. It seemed to be pulling me away from the house and the party. _At least somebody's on my side._ I knew that Chloe would be really disappointed that I didn't want to go to the party. Okay, she would be pissed. Then she would be disappointed. I'm sure that the party isn't solely for me. We _finally _put the finishing touches on the house. Well, almost. There was one room that Chloe wouldn't let me touch. And after three years of making changes here and there, she was finally willing to take a step back and look at all the hard work we put into it. Every room had been repainted and some refurnished. The most change we did was our own bedroom. Not only did she want to repaint, she wanted to tear up the carpet and put in hardwood floors. Not that I complained. It made her happy. Not that she said anything, mainly because it was supposed to be a surprise, but I was positive she was really excited about showing everyone the house. And I'd be excited, too…any day but my birthday where I'm the center of attention.

Clearing my head of any thoughts, I let nature take over. Focusing on nothing but the wind and snow, I was a little surprised when I heard a noise. Sitting up, I looked around me. It was hard enough to see through the snow, but with the howling wind, I wasn't sure which direction it came from. I listened hard, but it didn't come again. Shaking my head, I leaned back and tried to clear my head again. My eyes snapped open when I heard it again. It sounded eerily like…

"Derek!"

Groaning, I hit my head back against the tree. _So much for hiding._ I didn't call out to her, though. Part of me was hoping that she would give up and turn back.

"Derek!" she called.

She was getting closer. I drew my dangling leg up and tucked it under me so that she wouldn't see it. A few minutes later, I heard a stick crack and Chloe called me name again. She didn't see me, though, and kept walking until she was directly underneath me. I watched her swivel her head in an effort to find me. When the wind picked up again, her own coat didn't seem to cut it and she began to shiver harder. She pulled it as close as she could and it still wasn't enough to stop her teeth from chattering. Feeling guilty, I was about to get down from the tree when she turned around and took a step back. A hole claimed her foot and she started to fall. I dropped from my perch and gathered her in my arms before she hit the ground. I was expecting her to be angry with me for hiding in the woods, but as soon as she figured out that she was being held by an overheating werewolf, she buried her head in my chest and found the bottom of my coat, sending her freezing hands into the warmth underneath. I jumped when I felt those cold fingers hit my bare skin and I unzipped my jacket, guiding her inside it with me.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked when her teeth stopped chattering enough to form words.

"I thought that was obvious," I answered. I rested my cheek against her head and tightened my hold on her. "I don't want a party."

"There's no party," she said.

I tilted her chin up and looked her in the eye.

"There's no party," she repeated, looking me straight in the eye. I wasn't sure whether or not to believe her. I could usually tell when she was lying and she didn't seem to be.

"Come inside," she said, wrapping arms around me and sniffling.

"You shouldn't have come out here. You're gonna get sick," I said.

"What about you?" she countered.

"I don't get sick," I argued.

"You know what I mean," she huffed. "It's really cold out here and the snow is really coming down. You could have gotten lost and then you'd be wandering for hours before you freeze to death."

"You have a lot of faith in me," I said sarcastically.

"I worry," she said. "You need one of those pet things. That tells the owner where their pet is."

"I'm your pet?" I asked, slightly disgusted by the idea.

"No," she said. "But I can never find you."

"You found me now," I said.

"Only because I fell," she said. "If I wouldn't have fallen, you would have let me keep walking."

"Only toward the house," I said.

She fought a smile and said, "Come inside with me."

"You promise there's no party?" I said.

"I promise," she said.

Nodding, I took off my coat and slung it over her shoulders. She started to protest, but I zipped it up and started guiding her back to the house. Sighing, she went along with it and held on tightly to my hands. She relaxed a little when we could see the light streaming out the window in the kitchen. I opened the back door and let her go in first. I finally got a good look at her and saw that her cheeks were bright red and she looked practically frozen. Stepping out of my boots, I picked her up and carried her over to a chair. She didn't argue as I unzipped my coat and flung it in a pile on a dry part of the floor. Her coat followed after and then it was the little things, her scarf, her gloves, etc. I gathered her hands in mine and rubbed, trying to get the blood flowing. When I looked up at her face, she gave me a small smile and leaned forward. I returned the smile and met her frozen kiss. I winced when I felt how cold her face was and I gathered her entire body against mine.

"Why is it that you always end up an ice cube?" I asked.

"Because then I have you to thaw me out," she answered.

I just shook my head and said, "I think what you need is to curl up in bed."

"Hold that thought," she said, gently pushing me away so that she could stand up. She grabbed my hand and started pulling me out of the room.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, confused.

"Just wait," she said.

I was about to ask again when she pulled me into the living room and I heard cheering. I blinked and looked around. The room was filled with people. When I finally realized what was going on, I turned to Chloe and crossed my arms, raising my eyebrows and giving her a look. She bit her lip and said, "It's not a party. It's a…gathering."

I shook my head and leaned down to whisper in her ear so that nobody else could hear it, "Yeah, and when I lock you in chains in the basement, it won't be punishment…it'll be foreplay."

Her face turned bright red and she gently smacked my arm, "Pervert."

I gave her a cocky grin and went to greet the crowd.

"Happy 24th, bro," Simon said, slapping me on the back.

"I thought you had work?" I said.

"Chloe called and there's no way I was going to miss this so I flew in," he grinned.

"Yeah, you might have dog breath, but this is an opportunity to piss you off that I wasn't going to miss," Tori said, coming up behind me with her boyfriend in tow.

"You had to invite _her_?" I asked, turning to Chloe.

"Come on, she's your sister," Chloe said.

"She's Simon's sister. She's my nightmare," I said.

Chloe smiled and said, "Poor Derek."

I just fixed her with a look and wound my arm around her waist, pulling her against me. She leaned against me and looked up.

"You're not mad at me, are you?" she asked, giving me her best innocent look. I couldn't resist and I leaned down and kissed her firmly. When I pulled up, I smiled down at her and said, "I wouldn't know where to begin."

"Alright, I've had enough vomit opportunities," Tori said. "I came all the way from Miami to snow-infested New York. I want cake."

"Won't you get fat?" Simon asked, "I mean, it's tough to look at you now and you want to put on more weight?"

The look she gave him could strike someone dead. She grabbed Dean, her boyfriend's, hand and tugged him towards the table with the cake.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" I asked him.

"We're in a room filled with normal people," Simon said. "She wouldn't dare. And she's staying in a hotel with Dean, so I won't have to worry about her strangling her in my sleep."

"And you, one would assume, are staying in a hotel?" I asked.

"Are you kidding? I come all the way from Chicago to see my big brother. Why would I want to stay in a hotel?" he said. He slapped me on the back and I watched him wander around the room, probably looking for someone single to hook up with while he was here.

"Well, Mr. Souza. How's your birthday been?" Chloe said.

"Well, I'm kinda looking forward to when everybody's gone," I said.

She looked up at me, confused, and asked, "Why?"

"Because once everybody's gone, Ms. Saunders, it's just you, me, and the bed," I said, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her gently into me.

Instead of blushing, she bit her lip and said, "Is that a promise?"

I smiled and said, "Count on it."

…,,,,…

Lying stretched out on the bed with my arms behind my head, I was completely content. I heard Chloe fussing around in the bathroom. Looking over at the clock, I frowned. _She's been in there for a while._

"Are you okay?" I called, sitting up.

"I'm fine," she said, a little nervously.

A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened and she stepped out. My t-shirt hung down halfway to her knees, hiding the shorts underneath. She looked nervous and she was hiding something behind her back.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she said. "I still have to give you your birthday present."

"You didn't have to get me anything," I said.

"Well, it was kind of a team effort," she said.

When I looked at her confused, she slowly walked over until she was standing next to the bed. She took a deep breath and held out a box. I grabbed it and saw that it was an empty pregnancy test box.

"I don't understand," I said.

"Well," she said, "Women use pregnancy tests to find out if they're pregnant."

"I know that," I said. "Why are you handing me an empty box?"

"Well, like most women who buy pregnancy tests, I took one," she said. She held out a stick and I grabbed it, my eyes staying focused on her face the entire time. Looking down, I saw a small plus.

"Chloe, these things aren't always accurate," I said.

"I know," she said. She held out a piece of paper and said, "Which is why I went to the doctor."

I grabbed the paper and read the words. It took me a few minutes to make sense of what I was reading. _Pregnant. Chloe's pregnant. _Looking up at her, I saw her watching me. I looked down one more time before silently handing her back the paper. Her face told me that it wasn't the reaction she was hoping for. She looked close to tears and she started to turn away. Reaching out, I grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed so that she was straddling me. She gasped in surprise.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked, pushing a hair away from her face.

"I-I," she started.

Instead of letting her stutter her words out, I pulled her down for a kiss. It took her a second, but she got the message and pulled herself closer. When I heard her soft moan, I pulled back and rested my forehead against hers.

"You're not mad?" she whispered.

"I wouldn't know where to begin," I answered.

She looked down at me and said, "You do _want_ kids, don't you?"

"Well, I've never pictured myself as a father, but yeah. I guess it's crossed my mind before," I said.

"How many do you want?" she asked.

"How many are you willing to give me?" I countered.

She seemed to think for a minute before saying, "I think two is a good number."

"Why two?" I asked.

"Well, I don't want our child to be an only child. Growing up, it was just me. And moving around a lot, it kind of took its toll," she explained. "But you had Simon and when you guys moved, you still have each other."

"I like that logic," I said. "I like two."

"Well, number one's on the way," she said, pressing her hand to her stomach. I covered her hand with mine and smiled.

I flipped her over so that I was above her and said, "I guess we'd better practice."

"For what?" she asked.

"For number two," I said.

She laughed as I leaned down and found her neck with my lips.

She lifted my head and said, "I almost forgot. Simon left with Megan and he left a card for you."

Sighing, I sat up and reached over to the nightstand. Ripping it open, I ignored the "humor" on the cover and flipped to the inside. _Happy Birthday, D. Fifty bucks says it's a girl._

I looked over at Chloe and said, "You told Simon?"

She smiled and said, "Have you ever tried keeping a secret from him?"

Smiling at that familiar line, I tossed the card back on the nightstand and leaned down to finish what I started.

**Okay, so Derek's birthday is finally done. My next one will probably be Mother's day and I haven't decided if they're going to be big or small. **


	14. Mother's Day Mysteries

**This is for the very past due mother's day. This is the little gang and takes place during the second grade, so the fourth of July one hasn't happened yet. I had a hard time writing this, so it is going to be very short. Please don't comment on the length. I am aware how short it is. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers **

**Derek's POV:**

My chin leaning on my hands, which rested flat on my desk, I stared at the tiny clay pot in front of me. Everybody around me was happily chattering with their table buddies as they laid newspaper onto their desks and grabbed paints from the counter. I didn't bother. This was stupid. We were supposed to paint little pots and then plant seeds in them to give our moms for mother's day. And I would have been fine with the project. Except there was one small problem. I don't have a mom. And I'd make give one to Dad, but that's what father's day is for. So now, I'm being forced to decorate a stupid pot to give to nobody.

I turned around to see what Simon was doing. He had his paints set out in front of him and was currently laughing at something Chloe had said. I frowned. They were both painting pots, but neither of them had anybody to give them to. And Chloe seemed so happy while she painted. I knew that Chloe was still sad about her mother's death, so I didn't understand what she was so happy about.

I turned back to my pot and dropped my chin back down. Ms. Reynolds was walking around, checking on everybody's progress and stopped by me. She lowered herself so she could talk face to face.

"You're not painting," she said. "Don't you want to make a pretty little pot?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, to give as a mother's day present, of course," she said, smiling.

"Give to who?" I asked.

"Hmm," she said, pondering the question. "Well, you know, Derek, it doesn't have to go to a mom."

"I only have Dad and that's what father's day is for," I said.

She smiled and ruffled my hair. "You'll think of something."

I brushed my hair back into position with my fingers and pushed the pot to the corner of my desk. I hated when adults did that. What was it that suddenly made me a dog? Reaching underneath my chair, I grabbed out my book and started to read.

…,,,…

When the bell rang at the end of the day, I was only too happy to leave. I was ready to go before Simon could even grab his backpack from the hook. Tori and Simon both took their sweet time, but Chloe managed to finish fast and she met me at the door.

"I can't wait until we get to plant our seeds," she said. "I wonder what they will turn out to be."

"Probably some kind of flower," I answered. "Maybe a sunflower or something like that."

"That would be pretty," she said. "I hope it's a nice flower."

"Who are you giving it to anyway?" I asked.

"My mom," she said.

Confused, I turned to ask her what she was talking about, but she was already walking down the hall. Simon came up behind me and said,

"What are you waiting for?"

"Nothing," I said. "Come on."

We followed Chloe down the hall to the front door. Dad was waiting along the curb when we stepped out into the sunshine. Simon ran straight for the car and launched himself in. I took my time walking with Chloe. I wanted to ask her what she meant what she said she was giving it to her mom, but I wasn't sure how to ask. How do you give a present to someone who's dead?

"How was school?" Dad asked.

Tori finished buckling her seatbelt and he pull away from the curb.

"It was great!" Simon said. "We got to paint pots for mother's day. We're not done yet, though. I still don't know what I want it to be."

"Are you planting something inside the pot?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, but Ms. Reynolds won't tell us what it is," Simon said.

I ignored their conversation and looked over at Chloe. She was staring straight ahead out the windshield. When she sensed me looking at her, she turned to me and smiled. Her hand went to her locket and she started to fiddle with it. She always did that when we looked at each other. I didn't understand why. It wasn't like it was a nice locket. It was just something that used to belong to my mom. I never even met her. Dad told me some things about her a few years ago, but I wasn't really interested in knowing. I never met her, so I don't miss her.

Before I could figure out how to ask her, we had already arrived at Chloe's house. Her housekeeper was waiting for her at the door, so I didn't have any time to ask her. Instead, I said goodbye and thought about it on the way home.

…,,,…

When I got to school the next day, I went in search of Chloe. I found her sitting behind the one tree on the playground. She was making something out of dandelions. She didn't notice me until I said down right next to her.

"What are you making?" I asked.

She finished looping one stem through another and then she put it on my head.

"A crown," she replied and she giggled at the look on my face.

I looked down at my hands and cleared my throat. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead," she said.

"About yesterday. You said you were giving your pot to your mom," I said.

"I am," she answered.

"How?" I asked. "How do you give a present to someone who's dead?"

"I'm putting it on her grave," she said. "That way, when the flower grows, she'll have it. And when the flower dies, she can always have the pot to remember it by."

I looked back down at my hands. We sat in silence for a few minutes until the bell rang and we had to go inside. I stood up to go, and she grabbed my hand to stop me. When I looked back at her, she giggled and reached up to take the dandelion crown off my head.

"I don't think you want the other kids to see you with this," she said. She set it down next to the tree.

"Probably not," I agreed.

We walked into class together and I sat down at my desk. Brady took one look at me and started to snicker. I looked back at Chloe and she bit her lip. She motioned for me to brush my hair and I reached up. Ruffling it, I saw some yellow dandelion pedals fall onto my desk. I looked back at Chloe once more and she smiled apologetically. I quickly made sure there weren't any more left, and then focused on Ms. Reynolds, who had just walked in.

For the majority of the day, I listened to Ms. Reynolds talk on and on. When it finally came time to work on our pots again, I went over to the shelf and grabbed mine, along with the rest of the supplies. Simon shot me a thumbs-up when he saw me and I ignored him. I walked over to my desk and laid everything down. This time when I stared at my pot, it wasn't because I was bored and didn't want to paint it. It was because I was thinking. I pulled everything Dad had told me about my mom. Her name was Molly. She died when I was born.

Her favorite color was purple, so I started with that. I decided to paint flowers along the side. I started with yellow for the middle and carefully painted a yellow polka dot pattern onto the clay pot. Ms. Reynolds did her rounds again and patted ruffled my hair again when she saw I was paining. I stopped mid-stroke and glared at her back. Un-ruffling my hair, I went back to work and finished painting on the yellow dots. School was almost over, so I put away my stuff and set the pot on the shelf to dry.

Someone walked up behind me and reached up to ruffle my hair like Ms. Reynolds did. I turned around to yell at them and stopped. Chloe stood behind me, smiling.

"I thought that was why you glared at Ms. Reynolds," she said, nodding to herself. She walked around me and put her pot next to mine. It was covered in what looked like blue waves.

"I like your pot," I said.

"Thank you," she said. "It's almost done. I like yours, too. What is it going to be?"

"Flowers," I said. "Purple ones."

"That sounds pretty," she said.

We walked back to our desks and waited for the bell to ring.

…**.(The next week)...**

"Alright, class," Ms. Reynolds addressed us. "When you leave today, I want you to remember to take your pots with you. Mother's day is Sunday and you don't want to forget your present to your mothers."

Everybody scrambled out of their seats to get their pots first. I waited until the end and carefully carried mine over to my desk. I was a little nervous. I still hadn't asked Dad yet and I didn't know what he was going to say. Chloe didn't know why I was nervous, but she knew something was wrong, so she smiled and grabbed my hand. We walked out to Dad's car together. Simon, as usual, rushed to the car and was inside before we were even out the door. Tori was the last one in the car.

Chloe went home straight after school today, even though it was Friday. Her dad had taken the day off and was home to meet her. We waved goodbye as we drove away and then headed home. Simon chattered the whole way about what he was going to do with his pot. Ms. Reynolds still hadn't told us what the seed was, so Simon was convinced it was some man-eating plant. He was determined to have it eat Tori, so he decided to keep it by his bed. Tori was going to her mom's on Sunday, so she was going to give her the pot then.

…,,,…

When Sunday came, Tori's mom picked her up for the day. Tori wasn't at all excited for it because her step-dad was with and she didn't like him. Simon was glad that Tori was gone and cheered. I slipped away from him and went in search of Dad. I found him in his office. He looked up when he heard me come in and smiled.

"Hi, Derek," he said. "Did you need something?"

I nervously looked at him. "Can you bring me somewhere?"

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"To see my mom," I answered.

He froze and looked down at me. His face softened and he said, "Sure."

…,,,…

When we got to the cemetery, Dad showed me where her grave was and waited while I put the small pot next to her headstone. He didn't question me or what I was doing. I didn't stay to say anything to her. There was nothing to say. Instead, he grabbed my hand and we walked back to the car, with Simon running ahead, reading all the headstones.

**Okay, so that sucked. And it was short. I had three great ideas a few months ago and I never got around to writing them, so I sort of forgot what they were. Anyway, I hope this tides you guys over for a while. I'm not sure what my next holiday will be. So, I will ask you guys. What holiday do you think I should do next? It can be one I've already done before. Tell me the holiday, the age (kid, teen, adult, etc) and if you have an idea you want me to write. **


	15. Thankful

**So, I was lying on my bed staring up at the ceiling in utter boredom with absolutely no motivation to do anything when an idea hit me. With the holiday coming up, I've been trying to think of good ideas for a one-shot. I've been working on one for the little gang, but it's got a ways to go before I'll be done with it. This one is a little less Thanksgiving-y than it was in my head, but oh well.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

**Chloe's POV:**

"Damn," I muttered when the can ended up just out of my reach.

Dropping back onto the soles of my feet, I looked around for something to stand on. Coming up short, I glanced back up at the can on the highest shelf. I already had two in my cart, but I really needed that third can of cranberry sauce.

"Maybe there's someone around," I muttered to myself.

I checked my watch. Almost midnight. The store was probably empty by now and the man at the register probably wanted nothing better than to stay asleep at his post like he was when I walked in. I looked around once more before turning back to the shelf. I lifted one foot onto the second shelf up and pushed myself up with the other. Grabbing onto the top shelf, I reached up and wrapped my hand the last can. Losing my balance for the briefest of second, the hand clutching the can pushed forward and something on the other side of the row fell, followed by a very audible 'ow.'

I dropped back onto the floor and stood still, waiting. Very carefully, I pushed aside the contents of the shelf at eye-level and peeked at the other side. A man was standing and rubbing his head while staring down at something clasped in his hand. He looked older than my twenty-two, maybe almost thirty. Thick, black hair was trimmed neatly which only added to the obviously very expensive suit that clung rather attractively to his tall frame.

His head lifted and turned. Angry green eyes met mine before I gasped and jumped back. I stepped away from the hole and closed my eyes, trying to get my racing heart under control.

"Hey!" a deep voice said from the end of my aisle.

I turned around to see the man, angrily clutching at what looked like a now-bent can of creamed corn. I winced. That must have hurt.

"I'm very sorry," I apologized. "It was an accident."

"Accident?" he asked. "You could have killed me!"

"I'm very sorry," I repeated. "Really, I had no idea you were there and that the can would fall. It really was an accident."

"Accidents arise from foolishness," he said. "And incompetency."

He was starting to piss me off. "Look, it was just a can of creamed corn. It wasn't like I pushed you into a knife display. If you're going to complain this much, I'll pay for your damn medical bill."

He looked me up and down. "Like you could afford it."

I bristled. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Listen, mister, I don't know who you think you are, but nothing gives you the right to talk down to people. For all you know I could own a multimillion dollar company!"

"And what do you produce?" he asked, that arrogant smirk plastered on his face. "Burger grease?"

I clenched my fists. I knew he could smell the odor from the diner where I just ended my shift, but I wasn't going to give him the luxury of admitting that I did work with burger grease. I really wanted to slap that smirk off his face, but he would probably sue me for harassment. Instead, I did the most mature, adult thing I could. I turned up my nose and turned my back on him. Tossing the can with the rest of my bounty, I pushed the cart away from.

"Hey!" he said, "I'm not down with you!"

I stopped and turned my head. "But I'm done with you."

Without waiting to hear more of his complaining, I headed toward the front counter. I wasn't done shopping, but I'd had enough of pompous, arrogant, bigots for the night. I was forced to grow up around them and when I left, I didn't look back. I hadn't even spoken to my father in four years, but it wasn't like he was trying all that hard to contact me.

I unloaded what I did manage to get off my list onto the counter. The rest would have to wait until tomorrow. The guy behind the counter woke from his nap long enough to ring me up and take my money. I lifted the bags with a grunt and trudged out of the store. It probably was for the best that I didn't finish all my shopping tonight. I doubt I would have been able to carry it all with all the trouble I was having at the moment. I only lived two blocks away, so I hadn't bothered to dust off my car. I _was_ regretting not having the car heater, though. November wasn't exactly a warm month, but it was apparently going to be a rather cold and early winter this year.

My arms were almost limp by the time I stepped into my apartment. Careful not to let the breakables hit the floor hard, I lowered everything next to the counter and sighed when the weight was off my arms. Walking back over to the door, I hit the light switch and turned to look around my apartment. It was just a small, one-bedroom, but it was home.

Peeling off my jacket, I hung it on the coatrack and started to unload my groceries. My personal groceries were relocated to their normal spot, while the rest was squirrelled away in boxes for Thursday. Every Thanksgiving, I volunteered at the closest shelter. People from all over the city would flock in hoping for a hot meal. I couldn't afford much individually on my salary, but many people got together and did what they could. Most donated and then went on their way to spend the holiday with their own family. Some, like me, didn't really have anyone to spend the holiday with. So, like the last three years, I would spend my Thanksgiving with the community.

Thanksgiving was two days away, which meant I didn't have as long to prepare. Besides canned goods and the like, this year I was bringing as many rolls with me that I cook bake. Luckily, I did manage to get the flour that I needed tonight instead of tomorrow. That jerk may have put a little dent in my night, but that didn't mean my whole night was ruined.

Gathering together my supplies, I stayed up the next few hours making the door. I didn't have to work until noon tomorrow, so I had time to bake them before I left for work. After leaving everything to rise, I finally gave in to the aching muscles and hauled myself to bed. I sat down on the bed to pull off my socks, but the sinking mattress was too inviting and I found myself falling backwards into it. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

…,,,…

The blaring of my alarm jerked me out of a dream I couldn't remember that clearly, but I know I was enjoying it. I was in a giant canopy bed, surrounded by pillows and the thickest, plushest comforter I could imagine. I'm also pretty sure I was naked, but as to why, I have no idea. Snippets of a muscular god ran through my mind. Realizing I was dreaming about that jerk from last night, I angrily through my pillow across the room. Curse my fickle weakness to hot, muscular men. I didn't even know if that jerk _was_ muscular under that overly-expensive suit. Of course, when he walked, it did seem to put across rather taut….

_Bad, Chloe. _Having erotic dreams about attractive assholes you meet in grocery stores is not acceptable. I sat up and pushed my mussed hair out of my face. I pulled my hand back and caught a disgusting odor. Grabbing a lock of my hair and brought it to my nose and took a whiff. _Ugh._ I forgot to shower after work. Now my comforter probably reeked of it as well.

Tugging off my odorous clothes from yesterday, I headed into the bathroom and showered and scrubbed until my skin was raw and my hair had almost fallen out. Stepping out, I wrapped my hair in a towel, pulled on my robe, and stuffed my feet into my slippers. I'd dress later. Right now I had to get the rolls in the oven.

The temperature had dropped a little since yesterday, which meant my apartment had chilled. I checked the thermostat and turned it up a few notches. A few extra dollars for a couple hours of extra heat was worth it. Plus, once the oven was up and running, I could turn it back down.

Once the rolls were safety baking, I finally headed into the bedroom to prepare for my day. Pulling on a sweater and a non-holey pair of jeans, I deemed myself acceptable. Probably not to some pig-headed businessmen, but whatever. I checked my calendar to see my hours and saw that I only had a single shift today. I could hit the grocery store before midnight tonight.

At noon, I headed off to work. The wind was biting, but the diner was only a block away. It wasn't a large diner. We saw basically the same customers every day. Once in a while we'd get someone blowing through town who stopped by to use the restroom and grab a quick cup of coffee before hitting the road, but that was pretty much as different as it got. So, when I stepped into work and saw a suit standing at the front counter talking to Rae, who was batting her eyelashes and flirting up a storm, I was shocked. Based on the fact that Rae wasn't taking any money or writing down any orders, he probably was just asking directions or something.

I bypassed the pheromone show and headed directly into the kitchen. Tossing my coat onto an empty hook, I tied on the overly bright apron and pulled my hair up in a messy pony. Showtime. The suit was still standing at the counter, but his back was toward me. I really couldn't care less, but based on how much cleavage was leaking out of Rae's dress, I'd say he was gorgeous.

I picked up a couple of menus and walked over to where a couple has just sat down.

"Hi. My name is Chloe, I'll be your server today," I said, repeating the same lines as every day. "What can I get you to drink?"

The woman, maybe eighteen, looked over at the man, who seemed to be the same age. She giggled and said, "I don't know. Maybe a hot chocolate. Oh, but I'm trying to lose weight. Do you have a sugar-free hot chocolate? Oh, with whipped cream."

I stared at her. The guy looked at me apologetically and I instantly knew that intellectual conversations was _not_ the reason he was dating her. Big surprise.

"I'll have a coffee," he said. "Black."

I nodded and wrote down their drink orders. "I'll let you look through the menu."

I stuffed the pad into my apron and, still looking down, ran head-first into a hard mass. I bumped back and blinked. Looking up, I felt my mood plummet. The gorgeous suit Rae had been drooling over was standing in front of me and that smirk _still_ hadn't been wiped off his face.

"Still trying to kill me?" he asked, brushing off his coat.

"Oh, great," I said, ignoring his comment. "It's the asshole from last night. Come to ruin _this_ day, too?"

I shoved past him and walked behind the counter to get the drinks. He followed me and leaned his elbows on the counter.

"You're not much of a people person," he said. "Are you?"

"When someone deserves my respect, they get it," I said, pouring the steaming coffee into the mug. I turned and slammed it down in front of him, where it sloshed over the edge slightly. He drew back his elbows to avoid the hot liquid. "However, when they feel inclined to treat someone like garbage, I think they've earned equal treatment."

"Everybody is prone to a bad day once in a while," he said, watching me prepare the hot chocolate.

"And misery loves company," I said. "So of course it's acceptable to ruin someone else's day."

"You're putting words in my mouth," he said.

I turned around and shoved the other half of the chocolate bar I was grating into his mouth. His lips instantly closed around it, briefly catching my finger. Just as I was pulling my hand back, I felt his tongue sweep across the entrapped finger. I'm sure my face was red, but I kept my resolved face. I refused to meet his eye. Picking up the two cups, I walked past him and back to the couple.

Setting the cups down in front of them, I pulled out my pad and said, "Ready to order?"

"I'll take a cheeseburger," the guy said. "And a side of fries."

I nodded and looked at the girl. "I'll have the chef salad. Oh, and a side of ranch. Light."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and wrote it down. She must really be good in bed. I walked back behind the counter and hung up the order. The suit was still standing at the counter.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, looking him in the eye. "If you're going to order something, then I'll be happy to take it so you can be on your way. Otherwise, I'm working and socializing with customers isn't allowed."

"Well, I was going to return something to you," he said, raising his eyebrows. "But I'm afraid my lunch break is over. I'll just have to return it later."

"Sorry to disappoint," I said. Flashing him the fakest smile I had, I said, "Have a nice day."

He kept eye contact for a few more seconds, the smoldering look putting a heated blush on my face. It wasn't long, but it was enough for me to taste the sexual tension and make my heart skip a beat. When he glanced down at my lips, I felt them part and a small gasp of breath escaped. He looked back up at my eyes and smirked. Turning around, he walked out of the diner and disappeared from view. I stared at the spot where he left. He was baiting me. He knew I'd react like that and I couldn't help but be a little ashamed that I reacted just like he expected. He _was_ sexy. That lush, black hair, those smoldering eyes, that arrogant smirk.

But he was also an asshole. The door opened and a familiar group of girls walked in. I welcomed the distraction and headed over to give them their menus. I needed to get my mind off the suit. Erotic dreams were one thing, but one more minute under that gaze and my hands would've had a mind of their own.

After work, I stopped at different store than last night. I didn't want to run the risk of bumping into a certain someone. Luckily, I was able to get in and out without any fuss. I didn't as much as last night, so the walk back to my apartment wasn't as painful. I had turned down the heat before I left, so there was a little bite to the air when I walked in. I quickly put away my purchases and jumped into the shower. The faster I could wash off the stink, the less time it would have had to sink in. I was in a hurry, anyway. I wanted to run by the shelter and drop off the rolls and canned goods so they can prepare.

I had to take my car on this outing. There was no way I could carry everything. Luckily, traffic was down and there weren't any major time-eaters on the way. I pull up to the curb and killed the engine. Parked in front of me was a sleek, black, new model of whatever the hell it was. Something that you really didn't see in this neighborhood. Dismissing it, I pulled out the rolls first and headed inside. Inside was warm and inviting. Many of the volunteers were there to prepare and take stock. I recognized many of them and sent friendly smiles their way as I passed by on my way to the kitchen.

"Hey," I said, announcing my arrival as I walked into the room.

"Hi," Liz said, taking the top box from me so that I could see better.

I set my box on the counter and looked around.

"We have a great turnout this year," I said, smiling.

"Yeah," Liz said. "And more is coming tomorrow."

"Yeah, I have a few more boxes in the car," I said. "I think we're going to do really good this year. I don't think anybody is going to be turned away."

I walked out into the main room in the direction of my car and froze when I heard a familiar deep voice. I slowly turned around to see some of the volunteers talking to a man with his back to me. He was wearing dark blue jeans that molded to firm, muscular thighs. His coat as still on, which hid what was underneath. Looking up, I groaned. I knew that head of thick, black hair.

He turned around and spotted me staring at him. That sexy smirk flashed my way and I glared. Stomping off, I headed out to my car to get the rest of my things. Opening the back door, I leaned down and pulled out the two boxes left. They were heavy and I knew I should take two trips, but I pulled them both out. I managed to get them out of the car and my back straight before they started to slip. Warm arms wrapped around me and caught the falling boxes. I stiffened.

"I'm okay," I said shortly. "I have them."

"You sure?" he crooned in my ear, his warm breath rolling down my neck and sending heat pouring farther than I'm proud of. "Because I'm happy to help."

"Positive," I said.

He pulled back, but not before taking hold of both boxes and lifting them from my arms. I gasped and turned. He was already halfway to the door.

"Hey!" I said.

"You're welcome," he said.

I glared at his back, but I had no choice but to follow him inside. People turned when he walked in. I ignored them as I followed him to the kitchen. Liz turned around and gave me a questioning look to my glare. She knew better than to ask, though. The suit dropped the boxes on the counters for the volunteers to sort through. He settled for leaning against the wall and staring at me. I refused to look. I would not fall victim to him again.

"This is great," Liz said. "We'll be able to feed a lot of people tomorrow."

"What time do you want me by?" I asked.

"What time do you get off work?" she asked.

"I work 7-3 tomorrow," I said. "I can come by right after."

"That sounds good," she said.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said.

I walked past the suit, ignoring him. I heard him get back to his feet and I knew he was following me out. I few people turned, but they didn't say anything when they saw my annoyed expression. _What's with this guy? _I pull out my keys and put them in-between my fingers just in case. He did follow my out to my car, just as expected.

Spinning around, I demanded, "What do you want? And how do you keep finding me?"

He reached down and grabbed my hand, making me gasp. He lifted it and pried the key ring from my hand. I watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain mace. He attached it to the ring and lowered it into my hand. I could only stare at it stupidly.

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice lower this time. I didn't look up from the key ring.

"I've got something of yours," he said. "When you want it back, I'll be home."

He turned and walked to the black car. I didn't stop him from getting in and when he drove off, I could only watch. What did he mean?

…,,,…

I tossed my keys down on the counter and sagged into a chair. My feet were killing me. I eyed my keys and sighed. My as well put them back in my purse or I'll forget where I put them tomorrow. I pulled my purse over and looked inside. Probably should clean it out first. I dumped the contents out and sorted it. Most of it was old receipts and the like. I put the stuff I actually needed back in: keys, mini flashlight, keychain sized mace…. I looked at the pile. My mace was gone. I began searching through and froze. Turning my head, I eyed the keychain mace now on the ring where I almost meant to put it. _How did he…_. I ignored it. It wasn't important. I pulled over my wallet and opened it, but something was missing. My driver's license wasn't in its slot.

Panicking, I looked around. Did I leave it at the shelter? Or at work? Or maybe-

"Oh no," I groaned… _I was going to return something to you… I've got something of yours…_

The suit has my license….

I dropped my head onto the counter with a thud. It must have fallen out of my purse that night at the store. That's how he knew where I worked. He probably used some rich connection or something to find out where I work. What was I supposed to do now? He said he'd be home, but how was I supposed to know where he lived? I don't even know his name.

…,,,…

"Table three."

I absentmindedly picked up table three's orders and served them. As much as I hated to admit it, I was really hoping the suit would show up. It would make finding him a hell of a lot easier. How did he expect me to find him? I didn't even know his name. I looked over to where Rae was organizing the cash register and it hit me.

Running over, I said, "Rae! Do you remember that guy that came in the other day? Tall, gorgeous…"

"Uh huh," she said, not looking up.

"Did he tell you his name?" I asked, fingers crossed.

"Uh huh, sure," she said. "It's Derek."

"Derek…?"

"Derek Souza," she said. "He owns some huge company or something."

I was grinning like an idiot. I had a name.

"Rae," I said. "Do you think you can cover for me if I take off early?"

"Sure," she said. "But you owe me."

"That's not a problem," I said. "I'll see you later."

I grabbed my coat and rushed out the door. I ran the entire way home and up the four flights of stairs. Slamming the door behind me, I rushed over to my computer and typed 'Derek Souza' into the search. After waiting a few seconds, it gave me my results.

I spent the next few hours searching for him, but it was like he didn't exist. Looking up at the clock, I saw it was three. I needed to head to the shelter. I gave one last longing look at my computer. My license could wait.

…,,,…

The shelter was busy when I arrived. Everybody had showed up to help prepare. I walked into the kitchen and inhaled the delicious aromas. One smell hit me and I tried again.

"Liz?" I asked. "Do I smell turkey?"

She turned around. "Smells good, doesn't it?"

"Where'd we get a turkey?" I asked.

"Four turkeys actually," she said. "They were donated early this morning."

"By who?" I asked.

"That guy that stopped by yesterday," she said.

I was shocked. "Did he say anything?"

She looked thoughtful for a minute. "Oh yeah. He asked if this earned your respect. I don't really know what he meant by that."

My heart skipped a beat. "Did he leave anything? Like an address?"

"Mmm hmm," she said, reaching into her pocket and drawing out a piece of paper. "This is for you."

I gratefully took the paper and smiled when I saw it indeed was an address.

…,,,…

It was almost eleven when I arrived at his door clutching the Tupperware filled with half a pumpkin pie. I softly knocked, hoping he was still awake…or even home. I waited a minute before the door opened. I had to look up to see him. He was dressed in jeans, lighter this time, and a blue sweater that hugged his chest.

"Took you long enough," he said, leaning against the door frame.

I bit my lip and held out the Tupperware. He stared down at it in confusion.

"I really hope you like pumpkin pie," I said. "Because I didn't really think about it until after I was standing in front of your door."

He took the dish and held open the door. I hesitantly walked inside and was surprised. I don't know what I was expecting. He wore an expensive suit, drove a new car, and his apartment…was normal. Nothing lavish. It was like what I had, just less worn. I followed him into his kitchen and he set the dish on the counter. I waited as he retrieved something from the other room. When he came back in, he held out his hand, my license cradled in his palm. I took it from him and stood there awkwardly. I don't know why I was so nervous all of a sudden. He was still the same guy I met in the grocery store. Except now, standing in his kitchen, he seemed more human.

"Thanks for returning this," I said, looking at my feet. "And I don't need the container back, so you can do what you want with it."

I took a deep breath and looked up. Smiling politely, I said, "Well Happy Thanksgiving."

I turned to leave and I felt a hand on my elbow. I looked up to see him standing over me. He opened his mouth to say something, but ended up closing it. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he leaned back and nodded.

"I'm sorry for coming so late," I said. "You're probably tired. Probably had a long day with your family."

He looked confused for a second and I said, "Or somebody."

He didn't say anything, but a look flashed in his eyes.

"You did spend it with someone, right?" I asked.

"Doesn't matter," he said.

I stared up at him. I bit my lip and looked down. I glanced around for something and spotted the Tupperware on the counter. I looked back up at him.

"Want some pie?"

He looked at me for a second before letting out a breathy laugh.

"Sure," he said, a small smile gracing his handsome face.

I followed him into his living room and sat down next to him on the couch. Whatever he had been watching on TV was muted. He turned on the volume, but I wasn't really paying attention to it. I accepted the fork he held out and he lifted off the lid to the Tupperware. After a few bites, I took some initiative and brought my feet up and tucked them underneath me. I was becoming a little stiff from holding myself up. The hand bracing myself slipped and I fell into his side. Before I could utter my apologies, he lifted his arm and wrapped it around me, drawing me in closer. I looked up at him and my eyes traveled to his lips. He leaned in closer and stopped just far enough to fit a piece of paper between us.

"I don't usually do this," I whispered.

"Do what?" he breathed.

"Kiss assholes I meet in grocery stores," I said.

The gentle upturn of lips in a smile made them just that more kissable.

"I don't usually kiss woman who try to kill me in grocery stores, either."

I scoffed and he cut off any further talking. His lips were warm and soft and tasted like pumpkin pie. I wrapped my arms around his neck and brought myself up against me, letting out a soft moan. He cupped my ass with both hands and drew me onto his lap. The action was followed by a loud clatter and we looked down to see the Tupperware had fallen on the floor, pie side down.

I grimaced. "Think it'll come out of your carpet?"

He hesitated and sighed dejectedly. "Probably should clean it up before it stains."

He lifted me out of his lap and set me on the couch next to him. I instantly missed his warmth. He left the room to get something to clean it up with and I glared down at it.

"You were supposed to be a peace offering," I said. "Not a mood killer."

He came back in and I watched as he worked to get the pie out of his carpet. After some hard elbow grease and a little soap and water, there was no stain. He sat back and looked up at me.

"Think it's still edible?" I asked.

He threw back his head and laughed. When he did, he seemed younger than he did in a suit. It really made me want to dig my fingers into that thick hair and kiss him until we both saw stars. So, I did.

**I know it's still like a week and a half away, but Happy early Thanksgiving.**


	16. Derek's First Christmas

**Hey guys. I don't really have time to be writing, but I got an idea and I really wanted to get it down before it got cold. Anyway, I have a favor to ask of you. I really want to write one-shots because they are usually quick and easy and I don't have to worry about what comes next. So, what I need from you guys is ideas. I really want to do one-shots about when they are younger, like this one, but I'll take whatever you want. It can be for any story of mine, with limitations on Unexpected Odds. Just tell me what you'd like to read and for which story you'd like and I'll see what I can do.**

**Anyway, I know it's out of season, but this came to me and I'd thought I'd pick up a pen. It is Derek's first Christmas. The book never says what time of year Derek went to live with Kit and Simon, so I'm saying that he's been with them for about five months. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers**

**Derek's POV:**

"We're gonna be late!" Simon called from the bottom of the stairs, bouncing around impatiently.

Pulling on my left boot, I paused to watch him give up waiting and run up the stairs. Turning back to my boot, I pulled the laces tight and tied them in a double knot. Repeating the process with my other boot, I stood up and brushed the dirt off my butt. Hearing a steady thumping, I looked up to see Kit walking down the stairs with Simon behind him pushing him forward. Laughing, Kit turned around and swung Simon up in his arms to stop him. I watched them for a second before continuing getting ready.

"Alright," Kit said, still laughing. "We can go now."

"Yes!" Simon said, wiggling his way down and out the front door.

"Careful!" Kit called after him. "Watch out for the ice!"

"He's not going to watch out," I pointed out as I zipped up my coat.

Kit leaned down and picked up my hat. Easing it over my head, he pulled it down over my eyes. Lifting it back up, I gave him a look and he smiled at me. He stood back up and lifted his down coat off the rack. I waited until he was fully dressed before walking outside, where Simon was running around the car. When he saw we were coming, he yanked the door open and pulled himself in. Mindful of the ice on the path, I slowly made my way over to the car with Kit behind me. Pulling myself into the backseat, I reached for my seatbelt as Kit shut the door behind me. As I locked the seatbelt into place, I felt the anxiety for a second before relaxing. Kit said I needed to where it for my safety, so I wore it… even if I didn't like it.

"You boys ready?" Kit asked, turning around to look at us.

"Yeah, Dad," Simon said.

I nodded and took a deep breath. As the car started moving, I gripped the seat and looked out the window. After a few minutes, I started to relax and watched the buildings go by outside the window. Kids playing in the snow caught my eye and I watched them until they were too far to make out. I'd never gotten to play in snow before living with Kit and Simon. I wasn't sure if I liked it yet. Simon seemed to have a lot of fun and it _was_ fun playing with him. He like to throw snowballs and build snowmen that looked like piles of snow with sticks and rocks sticking out. He also liked to go sledding, which I discovered was something I liked to do, too. Kit tried to get me to try out ice skating, but I wouldn't do it. I didn't see how going around with knives on your feet could be considered fun. And then there was slipping on the ice and falling on your butt. What was fun about that?

"Are we almost there?" Simon asked, squirming around and fighting against his seatbelt.

"Five more minutes," Kit said, "You'll survive."

Simon sighed and dropped his head back. "He's gonna be gone before we get there."

"Who's going to be gone?" I asked Simon.

"Santa," Simon said.

"Who's Santa?" I asked.

He looked over me and his jaw dropped. "You don't know who Santa is?!"

I shook my head. "Is he famous?"

"He's the greatest person in whole world!" Simon said. "He lives at the North Pole and has elves who build toys all year round. And on Christmas, he goes to every house in the world and brings presents to all the kids. He knows everything you do and has a list that says how good you've been all year. If you've been bad, you get coal."

"If he lives at the North Pole, why is he at the mall?" I asked.

"So that we can tell him what we want for Christmas," Simon said.

"Then why have his elves been building toys all year?" I asked.

"Cause that's how long it takes to make them all," Simon said.

"But if he waited until now to ask what we want, then how did he know what to build all year?" I asked. I heard quiet laughter coming from the front seat and I saw Kit trying not to laugh. "What?"

I looked back over at Simon, who had gone silent. He looked thoughtful for a second before asking, "Dad, if Santa waited until now to ask what we want, then how did he know what to build all year?"

Kit cleared his throat. "Well, he had a hunch and now he's just double checking."

I still had more questions, but I kept them to myself. After another minute, the car stopped and I looked out the window to see that we were at the mall. As soon as Kit shut off the car, Simon unbuckled his seatbelt and bounded out. I took my time getting out. As soon as I shut the door, Kit locked the car and took both of our hands. We walked alongside him through the parking lot and into the mall, where I drew closer to him. I didn't like being around so many people.

We didn't have to walk far before we came across a giant line of people. Kit led us to the end of the line and we slowly made our way closer to wherever it was that the line led to. I noticed a lot of kids in line who were as excited as Simon was. As we got closer, I got a better view of what was at the end. There were people dressed in funny looking green suits handing out candy canes to kids. I watched one of the funny looking people take the hand of a little girl with blond hair who looked around my age. He led her over to a large chair where an old, fat man in a red suit was sitting. She was lifted onto his lap and smiled up at him.

"Who's that?" I asked, looking up at Kit.

"That's Santa Claus," Kit said.

I looked back to see the little girl lifted off his lap and handed a candy cane. She ran off to where a woman with the same blond hair was waiting. Taking the woman's hand, she walked with her towards the exit. As she passed us, she looked over at me and smiled. Kit's gentle nudge brought my attention back to where we were and I moved ahead in line.

After ten minutes, we were next in line. I held Kit's hand tightly as the man in green walked towards us. Simon was bouncing up and down and instantly took the man's hand when he offered it. He led Simon away and over to Santa. I watched as Simon was lifted onto his lap like the little girl. He talked to Santa for a minute before he hopped off and took his candy cane. When Kit nudged me toward the green man, I resisted and took a step back. The green man leaned down to where Simon was still standing by Santa and said something to him before handing him another candy cane.

Kit led me out of line and held his hand out for Simon to grab. Simon ran over and took his hand. He held out the second candy cane to me.

"Santa's elf said this is for you," he said.

I took it, thanking him and putting it in my pocket. As we walked back to the car and drove home, Simon talked the entire time about what he told Santa and every word that Santa had said. I listened quietly and sucked on my candy cane.

…,,,…

Turning the last page of my book, I read it down to the last period and shut it. Putting it back on the shelf, I didn't grab the next one but went to find Simon instead. So far winter was very boring. We couldn't go outside to play without putting on all those clothes and by the time we were dressed, Simon was already tired. And even when we did get outside, we always ended up cold and wet.

I found Simon in the kitchen at the table writing. I stopped outside the door, but I didn't go inside. If he was busy, I didn't want to bother him.

"Looking for something, bud?" Kit asked, walking up behind me.

"I was looking for Simon, but he's busy," I said.

"Oh, he's just writing his letter to Santa," Kit said.

"Why?" I asked.

"To make sure Santa remembers what he wants," Kit answered. Winking at me, he said, "And trying to get on his good list at the last minute. Why don't you write him a letter telling him what you want, too?"

I looked up at him. "You want me to write a letter to an old, fat man who spends all his time playing with toys?"

Kit stared at me before laughing. Ruffling my hair, he said, "Well, when you put it that way…."

I watched him walk into the kitchen to start dinner. Simon looked up from his letter to say something to him. Kit nodded and Simon grinned. Finishing his letter, folded it and stuffed it in an envelope. He left it on the table and hopped down off the chair. Seeing me standing in the doorway, he raced passed me.

"Let's go play outside," he yelled back.

Running after him, I stopped at the door and pulled on all my outside clothes. Simon opened the door to go outside when Kit called from the kitchen in his parental voice,

"Simon!"

Simon sighed and grabbed his hat off the rack. He pulled it on and raced outside, jumping in the snow. I followed him out, shutting the door behind me. I joined Simon in the snow as he continued the snow fort we started yesterday. As he ran around the yard gathering more snow, I fixed up the walls he had started yesterday before starting new ones. We had finished one wall and were halfway done with the second one when Kit called us in for dinner.

"We're never going to finish it at this rate," Simon groaned.

"We can work on it more after dinner," I offered.

"Nah," he said. "Dad said Andrew's coming over."

"Oh," I said.

It wasn't that I didn't like Andrew. He'd never really given me a reason to dislike him. I just didn't trust him. Simon seemed to like him a lot, but Simon also really liked our teacher who was constantly scolding me for reading when I was supposed to be practicing my letters. I tried to explain to her that if I can read a book was wasn't completely filled with pictures that I knew an A from a B. She didn't seem to understand and made me do the letters anyway. When I brought it up to Kit at dinner, he told me that she just likes to work at a slower pace than I did so the other kids wouldn't get behind and to just be patient. When I tried to persuade him to let me stay home until the others had caught up, he told me that I could stay home when Simon was completely caught up with me. I haven't stayed home yet.

After dinner, I pulled out my tub of blocks and set out to create the fortress I saw on TV earlier. I was working on the tower when the doorbell rang. Looking up, I watched Kit leave the room to answer it. When he didn't return after a minute, I went to check on him. Peeking around the corner, I saw the door open and Kit nowhere in sight. I started to step forward when I heard a grunt from outside. I ran to the door, expecting to see Kit in danger, but instead I found myself staring at the top of a pine tree.

"Derek, could you open the door a little wider, please," Kit asked.

I stepped aside and opened the door. Kit walked in first, followed by Andrew, who was holding the bottom of the tree. I watched them as they carried it into the living room and propped it up in the corner. Shutting the door, I followed them inside, mindful of the trail of needles. Something was clearly wrong with Kit's head. If he didn't like me getting mud on the carpet, why did he want a tree in the house?

"Hey, the tree is here!" Simon said, coming up behind me.

"What's it for?" I asked.

"It's a Christmas tree," Simon said. "We decorate it and Santa puts presents under it on Christmas."

He ran forward to check out the tree, but I stayed back.

"Thanks for bringing it over," Kit said to Andrew. "I know it's quite a drive."

Andrew shook his head. "Don't think anything of it. I was heading this way anyway."

They walked past me to the door and I waited until Andrew was gone before moving from my spot. Slowly making my way to the tree in the corner, I looked it up and down to make sure there was nothing dangerous about it. It had obviously been cut, so there was always the chance of it falling down. And the pine needles falling to the floor could be stepped on. Also, who knew what could be living in it.

"Well, I think this is everything," Kit grunted as he set down a large box with a thump.

He lifted off the top and whatever was inside shined in the light. Simon ran over and peered inside.

"Can we put the ornaments on now?" Simon asked.

"Lights first," Kit said.

He reached inside and pulled out a giant mass of wires. He grimaced as the knotted pile fell in his lap.

"This might take a while," he said. "Why don't you two go through the ornaments and pick out which ones you want to put on while I get this untangled."

Simon instantly dove into the box and pulled out colorful balls that glinted in the light and other strange things on hooks. Instead of helping him, I walked over to Kit and decided to ask him the question that had been plaguing me all day.

"What's Christmas?" I asked.

He looked up at me and stared for a second before speaking. "Oh. Well, uh, that's a hard question to answer, Derek."

"Don't you know?" I asked.

"Well, yes I do," he said, setting down the lights and drawing me into his lap, something he only did when he had something important to tell me. "Hmm, how do I explain this? There are many answers to your question. Christmas isn't just one thing. It's different for different people."

"How?" I asked.

He thought for a while before answering. "Do you remember when we had dinner with the couple next door? When they said a prayer before they ate?"

I nodded.

"Well, it's kind of like that," Kit said. "Some people pray before they eat and on Christmas, they go to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who I will explain to you later on. Some people, like us, don't celebrate that part of Christmas. We get together on Christmas and exchange gifts and celebrate being together for the holiday."

"But we're always together," I said.

"We won't always be," Kit said. "When you boys get older, you'll move out and start your own lives with your own families and we won't see each other all the time. Does that help at all?"

I nodded and slid off his lap. I still didn't really understand it, but it helped a little. Looking over at the shedding tree in the corner, I frowned. Nothing he told me would explain why anybody would want a tree in the house.

When Kit was finished untangling the lights, we watched as he wound them around the tree. He then put on the shiny grass called tinsel. When he finally finished, he said we could decorate. I watched Simon put on ball after ball and did what he did. Walking over the box, I looked inside to see the only thing left was a star. Lifting it out to look at it, I gasped when Kit grabbed me and lifted me up. He carried me to the tree and lifted me to the top.

"Just put it over the top," he instructed me.

I did what he said and he lowered me back down. He fiddled with it before stepping back and walking across the room and shutting off the lights. We were immersed in darkness under he walked back over to the tree and leaned down to plug in a cord. As soon as he did, the entire lit up in lights, illuminating the whole room. Simon cheered and jumped up and down, but I could only stare in awe. Different colored lights danced over the tree. I had never seen anything like it before.

Kit kneeled behind us and drew us both into his arms for a backwards hug. Soon after, Kit sent us off to bed. I couldn't sleep, though. When the clock chimed midnight, I snuck downstairs and plugged the tree back in. I wasn't sure how long I sat in front of the tree, watching the different colored lights chase each other up the tree. I must have fallen asleep, though, because when I awoke the next morning, the tree was off and I was on the couch with a blanket tucked around me.

…,,,…

I watched out the window as cars drove past. I didn't, however, see the car I wanted. Kit was late getting home. Mrs. Reynolds, the old woman who lived across the street, was watching us while he was at work and she was driving me nuts. If she pinched my cheeks one more time…

I sat up straight as headlights turned into our driveway and stopped. Running to the door, I waited until the door opened the Kit walked through, carrying a box. When he saw me standing there and smiled down at me.

"Hey there, bud," he said. "Miss me?"

"You're late," I accused him.

"Sorry about that," he said, "But I have something for you."

He leaned down and handed me the box. "There are from the library, so be careful with them, okay?"

I nodded and carried the box into the living room. Opening it, my eyes went wide as I saw all the books. There were picture books and chapter books and even huge novels. And they were all on Christmas. Smiling, I dug through and found one to start with. It was on the history of Christmas. Laying down on my stomach, I laid the book down in front of me and was instantly engrossed in it.

When bedtime came around, I had a giant stack of book that I had finished and was currently flipping through a picture book. Kit had to pry the books away before I stopped reading and went to bed. This became a nightly ritual until I ran out of books and Kit wouldn't get me more because the library was closed for the night.

By that time, it was Christmas Eve and Simon was running around the house, too excited for Santa to come. I would have been excited, too, however no amount of books could convince me that an old, fat man could fly around in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. I was even more skeptical of how he could manage to squeeze down our chimney when the raccoon who died in it last month couldn't even manage to do that. I also didn't understand why Simon insisted we put out milk and cookies for him. If he was too big to fit down the chimney now, why would he want to make it harder? I was still asking these questions when Kit sent us to bed for the night.

I was almost asleep when I heard rustling. Peeking an eye open, I watched Simon push back his blanket and sneak out the door. Closing my eyes, I pulled my own blanket farther up and exhaled. After a few minutes, I heard the door open and I watched as Kit set Simon down on his bed and for the fifth time tonight told him to stay. Simon huffed and fell back against his pillow. Shaking my head, I rolled over to face the wall and fell asleep.

I woke up to someone shaking me and I turned over to see Simon sitting on my bed.

"Come on, Derek," he said. "Let's go see what Santa brought."

Before I could argue to being woken up so early, he was off my bed and out the door. Sighing, I pushed the blankets off and followed him out. I took my time getting to the living room, still too tired to understand what he was so excited about. As soon as I stepped inside, however, my eyes went wide. What was empty space beneath the tree last night was now filled with brightly colored presents. Simon was digging underneath, reading each one. I watched as he found one he was satisfied with and pulled it out.

"Don't make a mess," Kit said, walking up behind me with a cup of coffee in his hands.

Simon didn't seem to hear him as he tore open the present and tossed the paper aside. He grinned when he saw the fire truck inside.

Kit kneeled down next to me. "Why don't you go open one?"

I looked over at him in surprise. "There's one for me?"

He laughed. "There might just be more than one."

Smiling, I ran over and was surprised to see there was a lot with my name on it. I wasn't sure which one to start with, so I grabbed the nearest one and carefully peeled off the paper. When I saw what was inside, I grinned. It was the construction set I was looking at in the toy store a few weeks ago. As I opened every present, I could hardly believe it. I'd never gotten so many things before.

Running over to where Kit was sitting on the couch, watching us. I crawled up and threw my arms around him in a very rare hug.

"Thank you, Dad," I said.

**Done. If you haven't read the authors note at the top, please do.**


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